Hurricane Ike's Lingering Effects, Day 3

Kinko’s is not my favorite place to have to go to use a computer. But in a desperate pinch, it works.

It’s Monday, I should be back at work. But the Shell Westhollow campus that I work at is apparently on the same electricity grid as I am. No power, no work. We got a major break this morning – a norther! That’s unusually rare after a hurricane as we usually get the opposite: high heat and humidity with zero breeze. Couple that with no electricity, nothing cold to drink and worse – no running water adequate enough to take a shower! – and you have a recipe for extreme frustration.

So in that sense, I’m doing well.

However, electricity (as I noticed coming back from my sister’s place way out in Katy) is a fickle thing. Driving back last night, it’s an inexplicable, piecemeal quilt of little squares of electricity amongst a larger dark mass. Even the area right at the tollway, apartments that were likely mostly evacuated before the storm, has power along with the collected storefronts and convenience stores. But crossing the Upper South Brays Bayou, you slip into a sea of darkness with nothing but the occasional candle flicker in a window, or a rare house or two with generator-powered lights.

Even some of the sights are otherworldly. Riding along the Westpark Tollway, a section of it was lit up, but the lights flickered on and off individually on each side and in random patterns – seemingly in time to the music I had on the radio! At one point I spotted a high tension electric pole with two of its connectors spitting fire and sparks like a crazy sparkler, while folks drove by it like it was mundane. It was almost like I’d landed in some crazy country for Carnaval.

While in Katy, I got my first glimpse of news last night. It seems strange, but I really had no idea what was going on in the outside world. Think of wilderness camping with no contact to the outside world. So my first glimpses of the devastation were a bit of an eye-opener. I know we got hit here with well over hurricane-force winds, but it doesn’t compare to the coastal areas.

Miya Shay with our local ABC affiliate was very good in peppering both Michael Chertoff and later County Commissioner Ed Emmett, with hard questions on FEMA’s response and seeming confusion. On Friday, I was struck with some of the things that should’ve been pre-strategized and foreseen that weren’t.

Now we heard the post-storm distribution of supplies such as ice, water, and emergency food were not coordinated. FEMA had pre-determined the state would deliver supplies, but the state declined or said it could not do so, passing it back to FEMA. Great storm planning once again from our vacuous closet queen, GOPers’ boy, Gov. Rick Perry. Chertoff, meanwhile, didn’t have time to do so either and instead tossed it on local authorities – County’s Ed Emmett, and Houston’s Mayor Bill White – to conduct it.

It seems to me that with FEMA being part of Homeland Security, who’s head Michael Chertoff answers directly to no one but the President, who according to Dick Cheney has “unitary executive powers” (meaning he can do whatever he damn well pleases), it would seem the President – who’s family is still here in Houston – and Cherty could have gotten this done. Instead its dumped on the locals – where a bunch of it was to begin with – to get it done. Cherty, yer doing a heckuva job – you too, Bush-baby!

I’m sure somewhere Bush is probably now trying to “cover his ass” and make promises about working to get assistance down to those in need in a timely basis. In other words, YOYO – You’re On Your Own!

Meanwhile for the rest of us, even though we’re lucky, it doesn’t help our moods. Traveling anywhere is a bit testy as all stoplights are four-way stops – but some folks don’t care about good traffic etiquette. I saw one fender bender, and the damn fool who should’ve waited was the one out of his car acting like the enraged baboon. Stores aren’t much better. You don’t know which ones are open, and most of them have lines outside of them. Even Home Depot had me waiting in line just to get in. Once you’re in, you often times don’t find what you went there for – requiring a trip to somewhere else that’s open. One large grocery near this Kinko’s is open, has full power and is doing a brisk business. But there’s no ice, no water, no bread, no chips, precious few crackers, tuna and potted meats are gone (thankfully I’d stocked up on most all of those before). At least they had some pumpernickel and onion pretzels that turned out to be pretty good. Hey, it’s something besides tuna and crackers!

They did bring in a couple pallets of ice while I was there, but the pushy-grabby clambering to grab their allotted two bag limit just gave me a headache. Screw ice. I don’t need that.

Gasoline is also an iffy adventure. Some gas stations appear to be open – but only by generator. That means no gas that can be pumped – something that could be frustrating for someone thinking they’ve found gas, only to find it’s a mirage. The few stations with legitimate gas end up with lines up the block – they’re pretty conspicuous. They can also be hotbeds of temper flares (as I saw on the news at my sister’s).

One of the reasons I don’t make the trip to my sister’s more frequently, even though they have electricity, is the 30 mile roundtrip will whittle down my ¾ tank of gas much quicker. If I stick close to the house, I can last until next week when (hopefully) the electricity will be more widely restored and gas will be more widely available. When it comes to getting those precious supplies like gas or water or ice in the immediate days after the storm, it becomes too animalistic, not unlike what we see in third-world countries during post-disaster food distributions. As I saw close up when I was thirteen, frustration, heat or discomfort and desperation all create a maelstrom that breaks down civility rather quickly.

Three days without electricity gets tedious, even though it is better than 26 days without during August (Celia). The inertia, without even the benefit of vacation, is the maddening part.

For me personally, it’s another day down with no pay thanks to my job being closed, another day down while Human Rights Campaign and the other GLBT opportunists trash the trans community, exploit trans tragedies leaving us bereft of hope, and shoves us collectively even further down the food chain and into permanent poverty, another day while the RNC opportunists trash anyone who’s not devoutly neo-con, cleverly steals everything they can from the national tax base to “no-bid contract” out to themselves while they capitalize on any possible tragedy – esp. from Hurricane Ike – and portray themselves as heroic compatriots, down in the trenches in the same fight!

So all I can do is go cut down the mess in the back yard – and then get surprise attacks from yellow jackets! Twice! Yes this will be over soon enough. But in the meantime, it sure looks like a never-ending stretch of unforgiving rough road.

Damn I hate Kinko's keyboards!

Hurricane Aftermath: Ike!

This will be short as I'm using my sister's computer. Thankfully my baby sister, Holly, lives further out in Katy. They had damage, but it's thankfully much less (thus, they have electricity!) And running water! Until you don't have them, you don't realize how much you take the essentials for granted.

[Photo: Until this past February, I used to work at the big Chase Tower, across the street and 7 floors above where this man is standing]

Ike was a pretty tough little hurricane. Having lost power around 2:15 in the morning, I have no idea how strong it ended up being -- 110 mph sustained was the last I heard. Since then, it's been life in the dark -- literally and figuratively. Only today did I decide to drive a bit.

Not having power meant I had lots of thawing meat and fish in the freezer that I had to do something with. Normally it would be barbecue time. But this morning brought some really heavy rain, and intermittent showers throughout this early afternoon. That's not good barbecue weather, so it was time to truck my meats over to my sister's house in Katy.

The drive out was an eye opener. But damage was heavier in some of the areas just north of me. Most all of the stoplights were dangling from the lines or poles they were attached to previously -- some precariously about the height of an S.U.V's rooftop. Others were completely gone, nothing but dangling wires. Many businesses lost signs, a few lost front windows. Fence, tree and other types of debris are still in some of the busy streets even 36 hrs. after the storm -- and may be there for a while. Electricity was mostly gone, but oddly there were little pockets that still had power!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Katy Freeway's T.C. Jester underpass flood]
Businesses were mostly closed. What few stores were open had massive lines, and yet still didn't have the most desired items in stock: water, ice or ice chests, bread, batteries, flashlights.... There were gas stations that were open a little further out from me, and they had gas last night, but again the lines were astronomical and the crowds waiting in line were more than restive. Most gas stations that were open were only selling soft drinks and beer (and still doing a brisk business!)

The damage in my area was mostly trees, power poles and line, fences down everywhere, and some lost shingles and leaks (which I had). As it was hot and still in the house, I walked the area around my neighbohood last night -- in the dark -- and noticed it was pretty consistent all around. I ended up with another longtime trans friend, Karen, and her wife in the next neighborhood over. We sat around, along with two other refugees from town, one a trans student at Univ. of Houston dorms. We chatted into the early morning hours.

Earlier in the day, once everyone had finally ridden out the worst of the storm (around daybreak in my neighborhood), I took a nap until 2:30PM. Once I was up and stirring, all the neighbors and I simultaneously got out and began raking our gutter and yards, dragging limbs and branches out to the street. We had two neighbors on my street who'd been out of town for the last week, so we all pitched in on clearing out their front yards as well. It helps make it look like somebody's there (so looters don't get any ideas that the house is empty).

I love my neighborhood, our little United Nations! We've got folks from Ethiopia, Iran, Phillipines, Spain and Vietnam on my street. Black, white, brown, yellow; we're taxicab drivers, used car lot owners, Dept. of Defense, Sherriff's deputy, security guard -- and even a transgender activist! But we're a close-knit street -- family (even if not of the GLB variety).

[<------- Only in Texas!]

After spending the afternoon cleaning up the street en masse, satisfied, we all retreated back into our hot, still homes -- with all the afternoon's worth of sweat, unfortunately. It'd be so nice just to have a cold shower even, but that's the downside to losing power: water treatment plants can't filter and pump out the water. The conditions bite, but we're all in this together (and have been through it all before).

At some point, once I get electricity back, I'll try to upload more video to the blog. Until whenever that happens, I'll be offline for a bit (unless I make the drive out to Katy between then).

Man Fashion: Tommy Hilfiger's Spring 2009 Collection @ NYFW

Another fashion designer from New York Fashion Week, Tommy Hilfiger rolled out his Spring 2009 Collection with some big guns, including stylist George Cortina and DJ Jeremy Healy.


The mood was patrician: navy blazer, preppy pastel slacks, silk tie, or a suit and trenchcoat in the same shade of gray. A pale blue jacket paired with narrow navy pants felt like the sort of thing Alain Delon might have worn.



Though the show notes mentioned "the explosive freedom of early eighties dressing," it actually felt a little sixties, Hollywood-style, like these were the sort of clothes an account exec.

White and black are still the my ultimate choice, navy pants with white designer shoe look gorgeous.

Source: style.com

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Technorati Tags: Men Fashion, NYFW, Spring 2009 Collection, Tommy Hilfiger, Designer Shoe

My Hurricane Blog: Ike!

[Calm the night evening before the storm, about 12 hours before the peak]

[Some last minute preparations indoors]

[A quick pre-storm shot of the Brays Bayou's north fork which runs behind my house]

Evening’s coming, and the winds are picking up! Actually it’s a nice respite, early morning and all day yesterday were typical: hot, humid and very still. But the gusts are really picking up at 6PM. This will be a bit unusual of a blog as it may end abruptly, depending on electricity. I’ll add and update as much as I can until then.

One oddity: Greens Bayou a little way up the mouth has already flooded! It doesn’t sound unusual accept for one fact: they haven’t had a drop of rain yet. This is not good. Essentially, the storm surge is now forcing water back up the bayou system! I’m quite a way in the upper Brays Bayou (the north fork of which literally runs in back of my back yard), so I’ve seen no effect … yet. We’ll see if the surge wends its way up ours as well – hopefully not! That’s more than a little unsettling.

There are reports on Crystal Beach, across the channel from Galveston, of people stranded on rooftops because of the rising water ahead of the hurricane. County authorities can’t confirm the reports because conditions are too bad and they won’t chance a rescue now. But as it’s 6:30 PM – a full six hours from landfall – these folks may have a long night.

According to the report, there were two on one rooftop, and across from them were fifteen people on a church rooftop all tied together. The tying together thing may sound good in a panic mentality. But history showed in 1900 that during Galveston’s last big flood, an orphanage where the nuns had tied themselves and all the children together ended up contributing to their own deaths as debris caught the ropes and in most cases, pulled them under.

It may sound weird to folks not here, but it’s been a relatively normal day in the neighborhood. If you didn’t go out and notice all the boarded up and closed businesses, you’d never know there was anything different. This evening (while apparently my friends were worrying about me) I was outside eating dinner and visiting with my neighbors, talking about the storm and the presidential race. We had a really nice chat over in the park at our dead end, and I ended up on my sitting on my front porch with my Ethiopian neighbors across the street, enjoying a glass of wine. Maybe later I’ll think about working up a pitcher of daquiris.

There’s quite a number of power outage reports coming in from around the area, and the storm won’t really hit for another three hours at this point. Most all cities in the area have imposed a curfew as well. Thankfully (as my neighbors and I noted while chatting) we live on a great street in our neighborhood. We all know each other and look out for each other. It helps in uncertain times.

Now I’m getting notice of the earliest damage coming in from Galveston, I should watch the TV instead of just listening. I’m worrying about the folks who didn’t take heed in this storm and stayed put on the island. They estimated 40% of Galveston remained there. With 22 foot storm surge, it will overtop their seawall by four feet – without counting either the high tide or the height of individual tides. It could be sad news at the coast.

It's just after 10:45PM and we've yet to have rain! However, we just had our first brief power outage due to the high wind gusts. This is a strangely dry hurricane for such a surge and what should prove to be high winds. It's so dry that I've had my windows open all day -- no rain, no need to close them (though the gusts are a bit annoying at times).

Just got word on Facebook from one of my city council friends that my bayou out back, the Brays, is 2/3 full way downstream (which she attributed to storm surge). It's unknown (and to me doubtful) that any surge is that strong to send it all the way to the upper Brays where I am -- but it bears monitoring, just to be safe!

In case I lose power longterm, know that it's due to power blackout. That first one was just a warning.

Strangely, even with all the high winds I've had so far, we finally got our first rain at 4 minutes before midnight!

I got a chance to visit with a friend in Indianapolis, Marti Abernathey, on Facebook's instant message around 2AM, and let her know everything was fine. It's windy, and really not that rainy -- which I don't understand. We've should had at least some heavy rains at this point (even though the eye is currently poised five miles off of Galveston), but nothing much to speak of. Yet for as little rain, we've had an inordinate amount of wind. I can only speculate, but I'd say we're maybe 45 mph sustained -- some gusts much stronger. Listening to my house creak and the chimney rattle so much is mildly unsettling. But other than a mild loss of lights for a minute or so, there's been nothing much yet. Who knows?

The latest report seems to indicate it's going straight in, and I'm due northwest of Galveston. We could have a long night of this.

[After the lights went out, I chased down the sound of the drip and filmed the leak in my ceiling]

[A different spot where I found a leak around the window up on the 2nd floor -- one I can't get to]

[What I originally thought would be the height of the storm, I went outside at 4:45 AM to try to film. Mostly it's just lots of noise and darkness.]

[This was about the height of the storm at my house, just as dawn was breaking around 6:20. After I got hit with a couple small branches and watching something whizz in back of my head -- not to mention getting pinned to my front porch wall as I tried to get back in the front door -- I decided I had enough video.]

Hurricanes Don't Know Politics

“You better duck and run
Get under cover 'cause a change is come
Storm warnings and it looks like rain
Be nothin' left after the hurricane.” — Change In The Weather, Buddy Guy

Friday. Hurricane Day. This is going to be a memorable one, I imagine.

Even though there are far too many things going on in the midst of presidential campaign season, and even the GLBT political intrigue as well, it takes other things more personal to bring you back to life – remind you that you actually have a personal life too. For us in Houston, it’s Hurricane Ike.

It acted like it was making a beeline for Corpus Christi, maybe even further south. I really didn’t think it would make this turn towards us. Well, it did.

As I live out on the western edge of Houston, I don’t have to worry over storm surges. Floods and storm surges are vastly different here in the flatlands. Floods just sit there – still water. Storm surge sweeps folks, cars, houses away. This storm surge will be bad – estimated at 18-20 feet, last I heard.

Storm surge people have to run the from hurricanes, should run from hurricanes. For the rest of us, there’s no reason to clog the roads and highways (as we amply saw during the panic evacuation from Hurricane Rita). For me, the only concern is wind, and with it tracking practically right over my house through nearly all models, it means my house will get the brunt of the wind this far inland. They’ve forecasted it could be Category 2 when it makes it to my area.

As anyone who lives in the Gulf Coast knows, news tends to go 24-7 Hurricane once it’s within 48 hours of imminent landfall. I knew it was coming in, and didn’t need to sit and obsess on news.

Thursday at work, Shell sent out a note to all employees to ask for volunteers to assist those at Houston’s Metro and City of Houston to process evacuees. So I was game! Better than just sitting and watching the hurricane bear down on us in slow-motion.

After work, I quickly changed and headed downtown to the GRB – the George R. Brown Convention Center. Traffic was extremely heavy going out, virtually non-existent going in. Even 30+ hrs. away from landfall, there were a number of gas stations that were already closing, even a few boarding up.

Once at the Convention Center, I noticed that things seemed a little slow in the sunset hours. In looking around Shell had a large presence of volunteers (as evidenced by our bright yellow T-shirts with the red Shell pectin) The only real activity surrounded the evacuated residents from a nursing home in Baytown. They were all loaded onto four Goose Creek I.S.D. school buses with lift capability – 38 residents in total, plus 8 caregivers and the registered nurse overseeing evacuation. They came to GRB as instructed in order to evacuate them in one group.

There were a couple problems: first, there were no evacuation buses with the lift capability needed for non-ambulatory folks. Second, there was no facility within easy reach of Houston who were willing to take in 47 people in one group with special medical needs.

Unfortunately there was nothing within a shorter drive for these evacuees, and nobody had an answer. Originally the nursing home residents, caregivers and school bus drivers, they were initially told they would have to drive them out of town – to which they all refused. School buses are not equipped for that long a ride for special needs patients. But none of the authorities appeared able to get any answer either!

After Katrina, and the nursing home residents who couldn’t evacuate and drowned there, you would’ve thought this logistic would’ve been worked out by now. Apparently, three years after Katrina and Rita, FEMA or the state coordination are just not there yet. Heckuva job, Perry!

Our evacuation coordinator explained that they did not want to send the non-ambulatory and special medical needs folks on a bus ride to Dallas (again, mindful of what happened in evacuation of Rita), and were looking for a place to take them in. But the school buses were herded down to the other end of the convention center and sat from about 6:30 until 10:30 or so. Being at GRB, I didn’t have my political contacts so I felt a bit neutered myself.

Once the sun went down, we started getting many more evacuees – including, again, more special needs buses. We even got a couple buses from Baytown with mixes of both special needs and non-special need. You wouldn’t think that would be a problem, but we had to determine which were staying on the buses and going to a local facility for special needs, and which were going to disembark, be processed and then wait for buses to take them to Dallas. Needless to say, many of the folks were not happy about the news – especially those boarding for Dallas. My people skills became very popular!

"Look at the people, they got terror in their eyes.
Bad wind is comin' it can't be denied.
They're runnin' with the dogs and afraid to die." — Change In The Weather, Buddy Guy

Finally, my political connections started coming through: Councilmember Peter Brown and his chief of staff Maverick Welsh showed up at GRB. They made a beeline toward me and wanted a run-down of the process, how we were coordinating it, and also any problems (to which I let them know the situation with the nursing home residents and also the special needs, non-ambulatory evacuees.) They left and headed to TranStar (the state’s coordination for transportation and logistics during hurricane threats) to try to get someone to address the problems we were having.

An hour or so passed, and we were having more logistical logjams in evacuations. Finally I got a call from Jason Fuller with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s office – he was coming over, and the situation would be addressed! The nursing home folks actually left shortly before he made it to GRB, and I don’t know if they found a location or what happened to them. But no one seemed to know where they were headed. Baytown will be underwater tonight, so I’m hoping they didn’t decided to just go back.

However, that visit seemed to unlock some of the logjam – and just in time! Buses were now coming in steadily around 11PM. Again, more of the same issues with who would drive to Dallas, and where the local folks would go.

Later Cong. Sheila Jackson Lee made a personal visit to see how the process was working. She and I chatted for a bit over some of the logistical snags: lack of extra-wide wheelchairs, the issue of not having long-trip buses with wheelchair lift capability, and even some of the ongoing issues of drivers getting message to “drive to Dallas”, but not having a specific destination – creating more delays.

It struck me how storms or disasters bring all the politicians from both sides together, working for once on the same team. Dems Brown and Jackson Lee, GOP Hutchison – it didn’t matter. Disasters don’t know politics.

While it seems like the logistics were nothing but a nightmare, that's not true. Vast improvements are having families kept together due to the new process of having everyone entered into a computer database, receiving a wristband that stays on them, and scanning them. This way, TranStar and FEMA have access to the information of who evacuated and where they went. Special consideration is given to keeping families intact in transporting them out.

Even pets are kept with owners -- a key issue overlooked before Katrina. Once upon a time, shelters took humans only. Pets either stayed behind (as we saw at times in Katrina), or their owners refused to leave in order not to let their pets fend for themselves. We've had numerous pets come in, and they're being well cared for -- even having access to their owners in a segregated area in the GRB.

Somehow, as the evening went on we had fewer problems and evacuation locations began immediately opening up. It seemed to impress the staff, the bus drivers and their evacuated passengers and cops watching it all clear up. They were impressed with me thinking I’d done it – I didn’t.

Apparently just getting with the politicos and communicating the logistical snags got the process moving better. It may not have been deserved, but I became (as the volunteer coordinator told me) their “superstar.” It’s nice when efforts coincide and the pieces fall in place. It was like I told the police officer with me after Sheila left, it’s just like team sports: you involve yourself, see what’s happening and what’s needed, then do it.

Finally, about 1AM, I was toast: sleep and recharge time. As I drove home I was impressed with how deserted the roads were, and how typically warm, sticky and calm it was. It’s deceptive.

While I’m sitting here at the house this morning, I’ve been watching the news reports showing the very beginning of the storm surge – 16-18 hours from the storm’s landfall – already topping the seawall in spots. This is going to be a bad storm for Galveston and points in the coastal area.

Just this morning I heard of a freighter with 22 people onboard that’s 90 miles off the coast of Galveston, and the eye of the storm is around 200 miles off. The Coast Guard told them there’s nothing they can do and they’re just going to have to anchor and ride it out. What damn idiot captains this ship? Was he just flown in from Pluto to take over and sail right into Galveston right in the midst of the storm? Lord only knows what’s going to happen to whatever this guy has in cargo … although everyone along the islands will know soon when it washes up. Idiots!

However, it’s not just the ship captain playing stupid. This morning, we’ve seen numerous people still in Galveston and the bay coastal areas, standing around watching the waves. There’s going to be a lot of folks (as we saw on TV this morning) making a last minute decision to leave.

I guess that makes up my mind. In a while, I’ll likely head back downtown and help with the evacuations again. This will be fun.

As I write this, there’s no rain at all, bright sunny day … but the winds suddenly began gusting ….

“Aha, you best believe it's true!
The levee's busted, bad news comin' true!
Oh no, there ain't no place to hide.
Reach out and pluck you, take you for a ride, yeah.
Sheer frustration takin' everything in sight.
Won't be no blessin' if we make it through the night.” — Change In The Weather, Buddy Guy

Man Fashion: Michael Bastian's Spring 2009 Men's Collection

Once a year event, Spring 2009 Fashion Week just started few days ago. Michael Bastian has showed off his latest Spring 2009 Men's Collection. His first show provided an interesting opportunity to see the designer's own distillation of those multiple options.


Actually, it wasn't really a show, more a tight edit of 25 looks based around Bastian's latest American archetype. Focus on sporty short, bathing suits, and of course his signature freewheeling take on eveningwear, shawl-collared pink jacket, blue tux shirt, pale gray pinstriped pants.



Source: men.style.com

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Technorati Tags: Man Fashion, Men Fashion, Men Collection, Michael Bastian, Spring 2009 Collection

Expect The Dirtiest Election Season Ever

This has really gotten very ugly, very quickly. It was reported on McClatchy Report that a new 30-second McCain Campaign TV ad attacks Barack Obama's record on education, saying that Obama backed legislation to teach "'comprehensive sex education' to kindergartners." The announcer then says, "Learning about sex before learning to read? Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family."


Fact of the matter is the legislation voted on by Obama and others in the Illinois Senate allowed local school boards to teach "age-appropriate" sex education. There was not “comprehensive sex education” lessons to kindergartners, but rather it gave schools the ability to warn young children about inappropriate touching and sexual predators.

Obama voted for a sexual education class that taught young, pre-adolescents what was, and how to avoid adult molestation by pedophiles.

Clearly this does not meet John McCain nor Sarah Palin’s approval. Better to let kids fend for their own! And in fact, better to keep kids innocuous and potentially victimized rather than make it harder for child molesters to have their way with them and get away scot free! This is family values, Republican style. Keep child molestation out of sight and in the closet – nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

“I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie;
I'm glad you won't see or hear me,
As I fiddle about, fiddle about, fiddle about.
Your mother left me here to mind you,
And I'm doing exactly what I bleedin' well want to….” — Fiddle About, The Who

Certainly Republicans are all about family values and protection of our youth. Look at such concerned Republicans as Florida Congressman, Mark Foley, looking after all those young men – the GOP leaders of tomorrow!

Yeah, we know all about your family values, Sen. McCain and Turdblossom Rove! Meanwhile keep praying for rain to flood and drown us since we can’t seem to follow the great GOP leaders “values” on impropriety.

This election has gotten predictably ugly, but much, much quicker than even I thought. These religiopolitical zealots are frothing at the mouth already. The swift-boating is in full-scale engagement with its true enemy (liberal Americans). And the wheels are coming off of their morals-mobile well before they begin their modern-day inquisition period. Desperation has sunken in deep.

Even just the throw-away commentary on the internet, and some of the audacious provocation I’ve seen even in a venue as relatively innocuous as Facebook has gone way beyond the pale from the McCain side. To wit: below are some of the more audacious Facebook pins created by members.

Nice stuff, huh? That's not including the Obama in front of a Nazi symbol (earlier above) or the other pin created that said: "Obama go back to Kenya where you were born. Sincerely everyone. [sic]" This is what good, evangelical, neo-conservative, wholesome values America does. Distort, fabricate, pathologically lie, paranoiacallyl delude and disingenuously pull out every stop -- anything to win. As long as they win, they can seek forgiveness for their methods later, and who cares who they hurt?

Meanwhile it’s been pretty tame from the Obama side in return. Yeah, we’re the good guys trying to adhere to what Jesus actually taught about doing unto others … being the nice guys. Well, nice guys finish last.

Well, if it’s going to be a fight, we need to pull the gloves off now. Personally, I’m like most Cherokee: we’re idealists almost to a fault. But when it’s a last-ditch effort to survive, you become fiercely pragmatic at lightning speed in order that you live to practice your idealism another day! In other words, I’m no fool and when backed into that corner, I’ll fight to win and won’t give a damn about what happens to the person who backed me into the corner in the first place! Frankly all democrats need to adopt that attitude.

Spare no words and hold no tongue. Republicans want a fight, they want to steal another election and they will go to any means to achieve it. The rest of America – those of us who’ve been left out of this “economic recovery” this past eight years – we better be ready and do the same!

Fight to win now, or pay an extreme cost for the next four years. That’s not a cost we can afford!

“When under attack, push back.” — Karl Rove