My Choice for the Next SCOTUS Justice

(At Least According to the Quiz)

Thanks for the Memory to The Llama Butchers and Dave J at It Comes in Pints?


JUDGE PRISCILLA OWEN
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, appointed by
G.W. Bush, 50 years old
Filibustered by Senate Democrats when nominated to
the federal bench, Owen is a former Texas
Supreme Court judge regarded as "far right
wing" by liberals. But who isn't! A
member of the Federalist Society. (Psycho
music) Sen. Reid has already said he would
filibuster her nomination to SCOTUS.


New World Man presents: My favorite candidate for the Supreme Court
brought to you by Quizilla

Different results from the other two blogs, equally unsurprising.

17th Chief Justice of The Supreme Court of the United States

John Glover Roberts Jr.

DeLay Indicted

He's maintaining his innocence. Here's hoping he gets a fair trial, and justice -- whichever result that means.

Mondo Calamari

Thanks for the Memory to Naked Villainy.

We knew it was going to happen, but didn't know when. Researchers have finally captured footage of a Giant Squid in the wild. It occurred off of Japan.

My best friend Lurch is, like me, an avid fan of marine biology, especially of marine mammals. However, while my favorite sea creatures are the pack hunters, dolphins and orcas, he finds the sperm whale more interesting, because it was for so long thought to be a solitary hunter (though recent research reveals this to possibly not be the case). This interest has translated into an interest in Architeuthis, a favorite prey of the sperm whale. He's going to be geeked when he reads this.

Volunteer Blogging: Facts and Figures

I received a suprise email yesterday from the man who was in charge of managing the shelter. He stumbled across my blog and dropped me a line.

Here's what I found ironic. He was very kind in expressing his gratitude for my help. Yet I seem to recall that when I arrived every morning, he was already there, and when I left every evening, he was still there. That seems to indicate to me that he put in some mightly long hours. If you're goinng to be passing out kudos, Joe, better save some for yourself.

But here was the part of the email that most touched me. He's given me permission to publish it here:

I know I am rambling, but I wanted to give you some stats: In the 21 days of shelter operations, we gave over 600 residents a safe place to rest their heads. Over 2100 “non-residents” came into the shelter for services or help. When we closed on Sept. 21 only one person had to go back into a shelter (but only because his apartment was not ready to move into).

That feels really good.

Arrrrr

Thanks for the Memory to The Nightfly.

With my mind still on Katrina last week, I missed the festivities of Talk Like a Pirate Day. But this sorta makes up for it:

My pirate name is:

Dirty Sam Read

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the sterotypes. You've got taste and education. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Both Sides Now

Thanks for the Memory to Ally at Who Moved My Truth for saving me from my own bitterness.

After yesterday's rant on Race and Volunteering, I received a comment from reader Jaybird, who pointed me to an editorial in the Oregonian with more of the same racist drivel, and I was nigh unto the end of my rope. The quality of mercy really was beginning to feel strained, when I popped over to Ally's and found a link to an excellent editorial in FrontPage Magazine from Rabbi Aryeh Spero.

The good Rabbi gets it. He sees what I saw. Read the whole thing.

And I have a response to this concluding statement:

Those who for decades have been accused by elitists of not having compassion are the ones living it. They are: the churches, the military, and the sons and daughters of the South.

Thank you, Rabbi. And you're welcome.

Freudian Slop

Thanks for the Memory to Darth Apathy and Vulture Six who are still Hurricane Blogging.

They have a screen shot captured from the local Houston NBC affiliate's coverage of Tom Delay talking to the press:



MINORITY leader???

A bit of a freudian slip, NBC? Or engaging in some wishful thinking?

Gimme Shelter

Vulture Six is blogging about his hurricane preparations. This time last week I was at his place, and he was my host as I helped Katrina victims. Now he's hosting Darth Apathy, and THEY'RE the potential victims.

You're in our prayers, guys. You deserve to come out of this unscathed.

WHAT Color Cross?????!!!!!

Or "Who is My Neighbor?

Thanks for the Memory to Ravenwood via It Comes in Pints?

Looks like my days of Volunteer Blogging aren't quite over. But this time, it's in response to someone else's observations about us volunteers, not my own experience.

Apparently, Black leaders in Tennessee are complaining that the Red Cross Shelters and their volunteers aren't black enough.

My immediate, most honest, and candid response to this would probably not merit The Headmistress' approval. I'll try to control myself, HM, but if I fail, please understand why.

I don't want to seem oversensitive, but give what I spent ALL last week doing, I can't begin to tell you how hurt and insulted such statements make me feel.

I mean, really. Do you WANT me to go away and not help just because I'm white? Is that REALLY what you want? Am I SO unclean a Samaritan that you'd have your brothers and sisters go without rather than have them sullied by my lilly white hands? Do you know how incredibly racist you sound?

And not just racist, but ignorant.

Searcy says she tried to open up her community center as a shelter, but could not get approved by the Red Cross. It already had a list of 63 churches and community groups.

Searcy adds, “You know that big headline that we were gonna have six thousand evacuees and the list of shelters in the newspaper were in the suburbs and so the question is: why aren't these in our community?”

Well, her answer is in the very next paragraph:

The Red Cross says it’s because the other groups were already on a pre-approved list. Their facilities had already been checked out, and the volunteers, already trained.

But I could have told her that. You see, the shelter where I worked had only been Red Cross certifed a WEEK before Katrina. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a shelter.

But Reverend Enoch Fuzz says in times like this, the volunteer corps should be more diverse,

SO GO VOLUNTEER!!!!!!! The training is open to anyone (as the article mentions), and in some cases, such as Houston, where the evacuee populations was huge, the Red Cross is waiving the training requirement. Look, stop cursing the dark and go light a freaking candle! That's what I did. My local Red Cross was absolutely useless in terms of getting me info on volunteer opportunities, so I took matters into my own hands. I talked to a friend in Houston, he offered me a place to say and told me how open to taking ad hoc volunteers the shelters were, I went to my friends and family and church and got support to get there. At least some of the people in question get it:

The Red Cross acknowledges most of it’s volunteers are white, but says training is open to anyone. Since then, Joyce Searcy went through training, and is signing up others.

A number of black churches are helping evacuees on their own even though it isn't through the Red Cross.

Also they are assembling teams of 50 take turns volunteering at the Red Cross shelters.

One other thing about Reverend Fuzz' comment really irked the... well, it irked me :

“Who in Brentwood would know where a black beauty shop or barber shop is?” asks Fuzz.

WHO CARES????? Is that really what you're worried about? Why not worry about who in Brentwood (Or Champion Forest or Little Rock) knows how to navigate the FEMA website or one of the myriad forms required to get people assistance? Who in Brentwood can and is willing to haul in large boxes of donations and hot meals and empty trash and clean #$%&ing TOILETS and haul laundry and sweep and mop and do all of the menial chores associated with running a shelter?

But if you're really concerned, Rev., maybe the people in your community can do what people in Houston did -- the black barber/beauty shop CAME TO THE BLESSED SHELTER!!!!!! That's right, they came to us, they set up shop and provided FREE haircuts ON SITE -- this despite the fact that they were surrounded by all us scary white volunteers!!!!

Well, except for the black volunteers. And the Vietnamese volunteers. And the French Canadian volunteer. And the Japanese American volunteers. And they provided haircuts to the black evacuees and the white evacuees and the Vietnamese evacuees... get the picture?

See, we were all -- volunteers and evacuees, black, white, men women, too busy DOING SOMETHING to worry about whther or not we LOOKED ENOUGH LIKE EACH OTHER!!!!! I made friends there -- black and white, volunteers and evacuees. And I felt close to all of them. I felt like we all gained from one another. When I think about the sense of purpose, the worthwhileness, the joy that I was blessed with for being there, the warmth and inspiration I gleaned from the shelter residence, and the camaraderie I felt for my fellow volunteers, I can honestly say I got as much as I gave. And I'll be thrice-damned if I'll let anyone tell me I'm not entitled to that just because I'm the wrong color.

*sigh* I almost made it without cursing.

Perspective Burnout

Ever since finishing my last post on my experiences as a volunteer, I'm having a hard time gertting motivsted to blog. I've covered the events of last week in all the detail I care to, and quite frankly, nothing else seems important enough right now to bother blogging about it.

A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

Thanks for the Memory to Moonbat Central via Right Wing Nut House via The Common Room.

Oft we are reminded by many on the left and by Francophiles everywhere that we Americans are so simplisme', so naive to the ways of the world, while the French, well, the French are more nuanced, more sophisticated. This is evidenced by the grammatical and other verbal faux pas committed by our Commander in Chief. Why, a French statesman would never commit such a gaffe. They are far too suave for that, n'est pas?

...during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to the new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem on September 8, he asked - while perusing maps of European sites where Jewish communities had been destroyed - whether British Jews were not also murdered. Needless to say, Douste-Blazy's question was met by his hosts with amazement. "But Monsieur le minister," Le Canard quoted the ensuing conversation, "England was never conquered by the Nazis during World War II."

The minister apparently was not content with this answer, which, according to the magazine, was given by the museum curator, and persisted, asking: "Yes, but were there no Jews who were deported from England?"

Comment vous dites "Nukular" en Francais?

When It Rains, It Pours

First Katrina, now Rita.

I spoke to Vulture 6 last night, and Houston's a bit on edge. As of last night, four of the ten most likely models had her slamming the Texas Coast, and if the storm surge goes up Galveston Bay into the Houston Ship Channel, things could will get ugly.

What will be interesting to see is how Texas' response compares to Louisiana's. According to V6, Texas has been painfully aware of the consequences of a killer storm since Alicia, and are well-prepared. We shall see. The good news for Katrina Survivors is that Arkansas has agreed to take all those who have not yet found permanent housing by Thursday off of Texas' hands. That should help.

My prayers are with Houston. Neither the people of Texas, who are such awesome hosts, nor the people of LA/MS/AL, who've already sufferend enough, need this. God be with you all.

James and Jake

Remember that I mentioned the reunion of James, a blind evacuee at the shelter where I worked and Jake, his service dog?

Well, again, the media was there, and Houston TV station KHOU has the footage available for viewing online.

UPDATE:
Never mind. It's been brought to my attention that the footage is nothing more than the talking heads in the studio doing the "coming up" lead. I'll post pictures when I get the film developed.

UPDATE II:
My sister called and left a message that James was on the Today Show this morning.

Volunteer Blogging: Other Perspectives

Thanks For The Memories To:

The Jawa Report

Turns out that Dr. Rusty Shackleford isn't just my Blogfather, he's a fellow Katrina Relief volunteer. And while he wasn't a "first responder", he has been helping out closer to the "front lines" than I did. He has words for those criticizing the response efforts that arer as strong as mine were for those criticizing the relief efforts.


The Common Room

The Headmistress had kind words for me last week, and now she's directed my attention to the Blog of Dr. Goodheart, who has me and Rusty both beat in spades when it comes to putting his ass where his mouth is.

Volunteer Blogging: IntroRetrospection

Well, it's been 61 hours since I ended my last shift as a volunteer at the Red Cross Shelter at ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship, and it's 24 hours until that same shelter starts its last day of operation. I've had time to rest, recuperate, recreate, and reflect. I have memories that will last me a lifetime, though for some of them, "haunt" might be a better term. and I've definitely formed some opinions of the relief effort.

I'll never forget the lady (whose name I didn't even get) who ran from the chair next to me crying "Thank you Jesus! My baby's alive, I've got to find him!" or E., who still didn't know on Friday if the same was true of his son. His quiet dignity as he went about the business of living in the face of daunting obstacles was an inspiration to me. His friendliness and faith renewed my own.

It will be a long time before I'll forget the sense of purpose and significance I felt doing something as menial as emptying trash cans, or the satisfaction I got from guiding someone through the process of applying for assistance. People are better off thatn they were before we entered one anothers' lives. That's not something I can usually say after a day at the office.

Ironically enough, I doubt I'm as qualified as even the remotest blogger in Alaska to speak to the first response efforts, upon which so much of the attention has been focused. Quite honestly, this last week I lacked the time or energy to pay attention to it. But I CAN speak to the follow-on relief efforts, and perhaps there are parallels to be drawn. That is something that will be discussed for some time, I'm sure.

Quite frankly, on an organizational level, the efforts (even those of myself and my fellow volunteers) left something to be desired. It's not that we didn't want to help, and it's not that we didn't have help to offer, but the actual process of delivering that help was chaotic. The problem was that there was no central clearing house of information that could direct an individual to every source of asssistance available to them. My last day at the shelter was the FIRST day it was visited by a FEMA official. It was Wednesday or Thursday of LAST WEEK when a representative of the AFL-CIO showed up to let us know they were assisting with job placement for displaced union members. On Thursday, I helped one gentleman fill out his LA state unemployment form, when a question on it caused a lightbulb to go on over my head. I ran a Google search, and became the first volunteer at the shelter who knew that the VA is also providing job assistance, for displaced veterans. Texas HUD, god bless them, is willing to foot the bill for rent for qualified applicants (and almost all Katrina evacuees qualify), but it takes 2 weeks to process an application, and we didn't know this until Thursday -- less than a week before people have to be out of the shelter. Many national and international corporations offered relocation and assistance to their employees, but unless those employees think to look that info up, it would have been very difficult for their companies to find them.

I started thinking that what's needed is a database -- run either by an organization like the Red Cross, or by FEMA, that lists all of the different private, local, state, and federal agencies that provide assistance, what kind of assistance they provide, to whom they offer it, and how one requests it. This database should be available to frontline relief workers, perhaps through FEMA and/or a select number of private agencies (RC for example). The workers should have a computer questionnaire they can use to screen each victim -- are you a veteran? A union member? Who was your employer? Did you rent or own your home? Did you have homeowners insurance? etc. etc., and based on the answers given, the database is searched and all relevant assistance for that victim is brought up.

One other thought on the relief efforts: I have heard a few people, both bloggers and non-bloggers, make comments to the effect that the relief efforts are in vain because it will just turn the evacuees (who are all single mothers, according to these same comments) into welfare recipients.

Kiss my white volunteer ass.

I've been around these people for a week. And while it's possible that my shelter was non-representative, I can tell you that most of the evacuees *I* encountered were families, and MOST of them wanted jobs as much as they wanted immediate aid. And many of them already had jobs by the time I showed up.

To be sure, there were some who seemed interested only in the checks they could get from the Red Cross or FEMA. But to paint all of the evacuees with a broad brush would be unfair. They wanted a leg up, not a hand out.

It was quite a week. If I had it to do all over again, I would. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to help. My thanks to all of you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. And especially, my thanks to:

The Feared Redhead for caring for The Lad, for busting her ass to keep our house, and for making it a home to return to;

Uncle Scott and Aunt Joyce, May, and Kimberly, for helping TFR with childcare while I was gone;

Corrine for the donation of the Frequent Flyer miles that got me to Houston;

The Sister In Law for donating clothing and cleaning supplies, for meeting me at the train station and driving me to the airport, and then for letting me rest at your house before heading home yesterday;

The guests of Gervais Salon & Spa who contributed cash for travel expenses and the purchase of supplies for the shelter;

Vulture Six and the Vulturette, for being such great hosts and transportation, and for the good company every evening;

Mr. Priapus, Darth Apathy, Vulture 6's Brother, Tito, John, and all the other Houstonians who showed me a great time all week;

The Congregation of Hosanna Christian Fellowship, my home congregation, for paying for my hepatitis vaccinations, and for praying for me;

The congregation of ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship, for turning your facilities into the shelter where I felt so useful;

The Red Cross volunteers who worked next to me and gave me such encouragement and camaraderie;

The guests of the shelter who showed me how to face adversity with dignity and humanity.

Volunteer Blogging; Day Five (Last Day)

Today was bittersweet. I am sad to be done volunteering, but I'm also glad that we've accomplished so much. I miss my wife and son, but will miss doing something that gave me such a feeling of usefulness. I made some friends, both fellow volunteers as well as guests, and I'll miss them.

But overall the day was full of good notes on which to end the week. In the morning, I was helping a woman in the computer room. After helping her set up her FEMA request, we went to the Yahoo1 People Finder link I mentioned earlier, and I helped her discover that her 21-year-old son is still alive. His last known location was the Astrodome on September 7, but he's alive.

:ater in the day I and another volunteer gave a ride to a young couple who were looking for an apartment. He just found a job as a welder yesterday. They found a nice place in Humble (pronounced "umble" apparently). While they were filling out paperwork, we drove over to a nearby Methoist church and saw to it that they were aware of the presence of this young couple and the fact that they'll have some immediate needs until his paychecks start coming in. The church promised us they'll take care of them -- it's already sent some of their own congregation as volunteers.

And the best news of the week. When we left at 2:30, there were a reporter and cameraman setting up. By the time we returned it had grown to four camera crews.

You see the shelter has in residence a blind man from New Orleans named James who had lost his service dog and longtime companion "Jake", a yellow lab. When I returned to the shelter on Wednesday, there were signs up asking if anyone had seen the dog -- apparently it had been rescued by a National Guardsman, and been relocated to a shelter, but noone knew where.

Well, they finally tracked the dog down to a shelter in Louisiana (Slidell or Baton Rouge, I can't remember which), and today a volunteer drove him to Houston. Right around 6:30, the time I was getting ready to finish my last day's work, I had the joy of watching them reunite James and Jake.

I'm not ashamed to tell you I cried like a baby. Most of us did. Not only was it a wonderfil, heartwarming event, it was tangible evidence that our efforts have not been in vain. It was a welcome release of the week's pent up emotions to cry. I'm really grateful to God for ending my week's volunteering on an up note.

Volunteer Blogging Lite: Day 4

All a Blur

I came home early from the shelter today, at around 3 PM. The morning was much busier and in the afternoon we had more volunteers than normal (and more than needed), so I hitched a ride with another volunteer. I only worked 7 hours. I felt guilty about that until I realized that on Monday and Wednesday, I'd put in 11 hour days. That compounded with late nights visiting with old friends had me exhausted, buth mentally and physically. Ironically, it did't hit me until AFTER I had stopped being busy. I was in the volunteer waiting area, waiting for something else to do, when I realized I needed to knock off.

Simply the Best

One of the reasons I was able to leave early without leaving them in the lurch was that the local Best Buy/Geek Squad sent over about a dozen of their people to help out. They freed those of us who've been there from being needed in the computer room. I still hate their commercials but at least I respect them as people.

Volunteer Blogging: Day 3

Back to Square 1

Today I returned to the shelter from Monday, the one at ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship. The other volunteers there seemed genuinely happy to see me, and not just because the help was needed and welcome -- we seem to have developed some real camaraderie. I think I'll be going there the rest of the week (all two days).

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

One policy at the shelter makes me really question my motives for blogging on my volunterering at all, and definitely caused me to decide not to catalog everything I do each day. It was a simple thing, really. At the shelter, volunteer vehicles are parked the furthest from the entrance, evacuee vehicles closest. And that's how it should be. Because no matter how much good we're doing, it's not about us -- it's about the people in need. Anyone who has a problem with that shouldn't bother volunteering for anything. Ever.

Yippee Yahoo!

I will mention in passing, however, that I spent the second half of my day in the computer room, helping evacuees with their FEMA assistance applications, job searches, apartment searches, and searches for missing friends and loved ones. I mention this in passing to point out some websites that really impressed me.

Yahoo has a People Finder that searches at least a dozen different missing persons registries. I saw it firsthand successfully locate at least one missing person. Very good for them.

If you want a creative way to help, consider donating frequent flier miles. MileDonor matches up people who want to give with people in need of flights. They weren't specifically set up for Katrina, but they are helping. The airline tickets donated by Continental were gone in three days.

Courage

This morning I gave a ride (in another volunteer's car) to an evacuee (name withheld) who needed to check out an apartment for rent. His wife already has a job, and he will get one as soon as he's found them an apartment. She has medical complications which require that their new place be right on a bus route, so he's doing the leg work while she goes to her job. He was polite and friendly and was doing his best to muddle through all the red tape associated with getting long term help. all this despite the fact that he still doesn't know where his fourteen year old son is, or even if he made it. I have a great deal of respect for the rescuers and first responders and relief workers and volunteers, but let's not forget the heroism of many of the hurricane's survivors, for whom day-by-day living is an exercize in courage.

Volunteer (or not) Blogging: Day 2 (sort of)

Arrived at the new shelter at Spring Tabernacle early today, around 7:45 AM. Was assigned to the already overstaffed kitchen. helped break out several cases of bottled water, Capri Sun juice, and soft drinks, which took all of 10 minutes. Waited for another hour or so, helped clean up by retrieving 1 tray of food from the service line, was borrowed by the front desk to empty tjhe trash from one men's room. When I returned to the kitchen, the work was done. Was sent to the front desk, who informed me that they didn't havre anything else for me to do, they're overstaffed. Went home 2 hours after arriving.

I did notice that this shelter was better organized, but there didn't seem to be the same warmth on the part of the staff. It was also interestingly differnet in that most of the evacuees at this shelter drove themselves out the day before or the day of the hurricane, while most of tjhose at yesterday's shelter were rescued from rooftops by helicopter.

I'm really frustrated. I came here to help. It's good to see that this shelter has all the help they need, but my day's shot now (no transportation to other shelters). Tomorrow I'll go back to the shelter at CBF. Today I'll sort the clothing and other supplies that were sent down here with me, in preparation for donating them. I hope the rest of the week proves more productive.