Pimps and an Angel ep update and some minor ranting...

[tabaqui]

Pimpity pimp! First, crazydiamondsue had a totally lame and miserable thing happen to her, so reremouse and savoytruffle decided to write a tag-story for her. OMG! Heeee. Go - now! Read!

And comment to the writers or to the original post, please, not in the middle of the story!


Also, you must read Headful of Ghosts by wesleysgirl. Dark, different post-everything with Spike and Angel and Xander and...yeah, ghosts. Or something. Lovely, lovely stuff.



Watched 'Hearthrob' and...uh...the one that comes after. Sorry. I love seeing 'period' eps, that was awesome. I love Darla more and more with every ep i see. Man, Angel SUCKS for killing off everyone from his past. Not gonna help, dude! And wow - wanted to smack Cordy and her 'Buffy died! You have to talk!' business. He seemed fine to me - let's just let Buffy rest in peace, eh? Sheesh. *grumble* Still lovin' the Gunn/Wes vibe and even though i love a more scruffy!Wes his hair is a bit odd - is it a wig or something? It just looks...weird. I know it gets better. Heh.

And Fred! I'm having such fun watching her be cute and crazy. Yay, Fred!

And Cordy and Angel... Angel really loves her. No, not in the 'romantic' way he loved Buffy or Darla, but he loves her, and she loves him, and they're friends. And if ME could have pulled their heads out of their asses, they could have really had a wonderful 'ship going. But no, it's all brood, brood, brood, fake ascensions and whatnot. Or whatever. *sigh* Buffy and Angel were never friends *thank you, Spike* and Cordy and Angel were... Ah well.


Now my minor rant.
I'm compulsively turning on the TV and watching the news and my god it's pissing me off. The anchors for the various news agencies are so damn hysterical! While panning over scenes of flooded New Orleans one is babbling about how the people are 'literally starving'. Well, no, they're not, literally or otherwise. They're, at most, three days without full on, regular meals and nobody is 'starving'. Not trying to down-play what's going on, but come on!

Then they go to a 'live' feed from some reporter in the field who is just - rambling. Using the worst grammar - 'the water speeded through here last night' - and just generally not being able to formulate coherent thoughts or even complete sentences sometimes. It's all 'uh' and 'ummm' and it's like they have some sort of word or phrase they want to end up on 'the fury of Katrina is not done!' or some such lameness, and they sacrifice actual news to get to their clever little 'bit'. Gah. Maybe they should teach actual elocution, grammar, and, i dunno - linear thought? to budding reporters. Something. Please.

I'm sickened by the looters, by how unprepared our govt. seems to be, by the guy selling gas for seven bucks a fucking gallon, by - well, everything. I hope that any and all of my flist and fellow LJr's who are there or who have family and friends there make it out alive and well. .

That is all, folks.
*hugs and kisses*

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sharvie_/]

I saw that someone in gov or news compared it to Hiroshima. That made me blink. I know it's bad, but no one got vaporized! And I won't even get into the radiation fall-out. And oh, yeah, people knew it was coming.

The news likes to use hyperbole quite a bit. Next they will say, "This is what Noah must have seen when he built the arc." *sigh*

[sweptawaybayou.livejournal.com]

*smooches you all up*

I looked at so many images today of Biloxi, remembering *so* much from living there and now it is gone. I searched for information about Keesler AFB and finally had to go to their website to read that 80% of the military housing is either gone or severly damaged. *sigh* Just a small thing, but all the Willow trees I planted, in the back yard of every house we lived in down there ... are prolly gone also. And I wanted to take my kids back someday and show them where they were born.

My heart simply bleeds for those people. The ones that didn't have cars, that didn't have relatives that weren't already living with them, that didn't have credit cards and just.couldn't.leave. because there was no where to go. Our government *snort* has absolutely NO IDEA what it is like to be poor.

*weeps*

*adores you endlessly*

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

Why is there not more *shakes internets*

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

There's fic? For me??? Squee! Crap, I have to class now. Well, there will still be fic for me in the morning! *claps hands*

[margarks.livejournal.com]

i have a few things to say about your rant... I didn't read the rest of your stuff yet... but i will!

1. yes, I haven't been very blown away (excuse the pun) by the reporting, but I decided to give the less eloquent a break as they are actually *in* the storm area and maybe they're a bit frazzled. I know I would be (even if it was *my* job to stay unfrazzled).

2. I hate the looters. I saw a pic of some looters this morning that were stealing sneakers and sports memorabilia from a sports store. I mean, food I can understand, but sneakers? WHY? WHY? Hasn't everyone suffered enough?

3. It amazes me how unprepared we are for this kind of thing. Especially after seeing the devastation of the Tsunami and so many other tragedies across the world. Why didn't we start planning?

4. The guy selling gas for $7? If the press got a pic of his store, he's going to jail after this is over. That's illegal. At the very least he'll be fined hugely. But I think, if I were the prosecutors I'd send him to jail (prosecute the maximum) because of the assholeishness of the whole thing. 100's are dead, 1000's are probably homeless, and he's making a fucking profit.

That is all.

Thanks.
Margie

Your rant

[(Anonymous)]

I'm just an anonymous LJ-less lurker who stalks you for Spander etc., and I thank you for taking an anonymous comment. I have to say something about your rant: Not having full-on meals for three days would be as close to starving as anyone should be allowed to get in this country. Further, I am convinced that, even though I detest the screaming and alarmism of the correspondents, the situation is actually much worse than we and they think it is. What is it like for the tens of thousands of poor folks who have no homes, no income, no food, no protection from the water and damp, no medical care? What is it like to have no place to go with your family, to be shipped from the Superdome to the Astrodome, all the way to another frickin' state? If I were there in a similar situation, I would be looting. I try to go without food and water for Yom Kippur every year and I am usually "this" close to chewing my arm off. If I had a child or parent to care for under these circumstances, I would be crazed.
This is not to excuse those who loot tvs etc, that are not consumable. But those people will be there in any situation where there's a breakdown of civil society. It's a mistake to focus on them, beyond noting that that kind of looting is taking place and much of it could have been prevented. The focus should be on the failure of the government to be prepared. Thousands more National Guard troops on the streets of NO instead of Iraq would protect property AND people here.

Our president fiddled with his guitar while the storm approached, then decided after the devastation to get involved. (Maybe it would be better if he stayed in TX and let the adults take charge.) HE DID NOTHING UNTIL TUESDAY. And we were all lulled to complacency by the media who said that it wasn't as bad as we expected. Well, I believe it's that bad and will be getting worse all the time.

Sorry, dear. I love your writing. I'll shut up now.

Re your rant

[seadreamer.livejournal.com]

You know what? I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Yes, the looting is totally unacceptable. Most likely those people stealing frivolous things aren't aware of the over all situation. And honestly, some people would steal matches if they knew that the world was on fire around them. The $7/gal gas guy is getting what he deserves. And true, no one is literally starving, but there ARE hungry people out there.

A lot of what you're seeing on the news is the result of local newscasters who have been on duty pretty much constantly since before Katrina came ashore. The local stations have been on the air nearly 24/7 since then, and people are definitely showing the strain. Also, a lot of people are quite literally in shock. And yes, that includes the reporters who have been sent in to cover the situation. And yes, live television is DIFFICULT. Even for professionals. And some of those folks should have the microphones ripped out of their hands and smashed.

*sighs*

I understand the frustration of people not affected by this storm. You're ready to move on, and see what else is going on in the world. I live an hour away from New Orleans, and I have to tell you that this IS our world right now. Here's the truth, so you don't have to depend on televised news: It's BAD. It's catastrophic. New Orleans will never be the same. They're planning to rebuild, but honestly? I'll believe it when I see it. There are a lot of people dead. One of the directors at the OEP office here in Baton Rouge just announced in a live news conference that they're not even attempting to make a casualty estimate, because "If we see a body in the water, and a family on the roof, we're going to concentrate on the family." That applies to the looters as well. Anyone who could stop the looters have been more worried about getting people out of the area and trying to save lives. They're saying that's about to change as more relief personnel come into the area.

As for preparedness... the evacuation plan for New Orleans worked just as it was intended to work. The people you see still there were either unable to evacuate or just didn't believe that the storm would be as bad as they were told it would be. I, personally, would have loaded up and hauled butt out of there, but that's me. They've been evacuated before, and it came to nothing. They've been predicting this storm for years, and every time they did, they were wrong. People had fallen into the "Cry wolf" mentality. Now they're paying for it. The logistics of evacuating an entire city the size of New Orleans and the surrounding area are just staggering. Officials did what they could, and they're still doing what they can.

I understand your aggravation. As I said, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Please just have patience. For hundreds of thousands of people, this IS their world. They're just trying to get through the aftermath somehow.

Thanks!!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I also am sickened by the looters. Last night someone shot someone to death over a bag of ice in Hattiesburg where my family is. I finally got to talk to my mother today and she said that they were told 4-6 weeks before power is restored. And this is a hundred miles or so inland. My friend Marshall managed to get some info out of Hattiesburg; there's literally no gas. People have been pulling knives and guns on each other in lines to try to fill up. There's no diesel left in Hattiesburg. HEll, there's no diesel left in Oxford which is 350 miles North of Hattiesburg. This means that trucks transporting food, water, and evacuees can't get anywhere.

As someone mentioned in a comment above, I do think it is insensitive to compare what happened to Hiroshima. That tragedy has a lot of emotional and political baggage attached to it that doesn't apply to this situation. However, the devastation in terms of property damage and loss of life is surely comparable if not more extensive. The entire coast from Gulfport to New Orleans is just gone. Gone. All these places I've been, gone. I imagine just getting the area cleared enough for people to return will take months. Rebuilding years. And all that history is gone. All those old buildings gone.

So many people are out of a job. My friend and his girlfriend are staying with us right now and she worked at a gas station right next to the apartment complex on the beach where she lived. Both gone. Thousands of people out of work; I don't know how our state economy can absorb that. All those people who've been displaced have to go somewhere; cities are being flooded with people coming out. It's just a huge mess.

[shighola.livejournal.com]

I hear what you're saying, but it is so much worse there right now, than they're even letting on. I have lots of family down there and it is unbelievable. My uncle, his wife and their kids are still unaccounted for.

Many people who live in and around New Orleans are poor, very poor. The unchecked racism and classism in Louisiana is unreal. As such, many of the people there couldn't evacuate even if they wanted to 'cuz they just didn't have the money to go somewhere for an extended period of time. Plus, I don't think anyone thought it was gonna be as bas as it is - that's just human nature. So if your home has been flooded, you've lost everything, and you have NO money - you might not be starving right this second, but you soon will be.

[tabaqui]

Ummmm...right. I agree with all that. My rant was about the utterly lame news reporting.

The sitch in NO is absolutely horrific and hysterical/sensational news reporting is NOT going to help.

I can't believe there wasn't a better plan for all the people who just could NOT get out - why didn't the Shrub send National Guard three days ago to help evacuate those that didn't have cars/money/the ability?

Not being prepared in that respect just made it worse.

[tabaqui]

It is. A gigantic, horrible mess that our govt. and the Shrub could have done something about. Particularly, send some kind of military transport to get out those people who had no actual means of evacuating.

And my GODS, whey do people have to get so violent so quickly?
*sigh*

I can't see this all being fixed any time soon, either.

Re: Re your rant

[tabaqui]

Ummmm, no, i'm not ready to 'move on'. What i'm ready for is some responsibility and some actual brain usage in the news media.

My rant was about the atrocious reporting, about news anchors making the situation worse with hysterical/sensational claims and comments, and 'live' reporters who can't string two sentences together. If you're that shocky, tired, or whatever - get a nap and get off the air for an hour! We'd all be better served by reliable, calm, and reasoned reporting rather than the kind of stuff i've been seeing on all the channels.

The govt. absolutely should have sent some National Guard or something in to get the people out who had no cars or money. It's crazy to think that everybody in a city can just pack up and leave, and those people really got the short end of the stick.

And i totally understand looting food, water, diapers - hell, bug spray! But not toaster ovens and Nike sneakers, and NOT guns, which you then use to shoot a police. That's insane - that's making a bad situation so much worse.

I have no problem with 24/7 news covereage of what's going on along the Gulf coast and inland - just make it GOOD reporting, not sensational tabloid-style crapola.

Re: Your rant

[tabaqui]

Exactly. Which is what my rant was all about - irresponsible reporting that sensationalizes things rather than giving accurate, calm news that we can all actually use. I don't need to see some 'heartwrenching' interview with a guy who lost everything - i *know* he and thousands of others lost everything!

Tell me how the Shrub is goign to fix it - tell me how *i* can help, tell me what the local govt. is doing! And reports who can't actually articulate a coherent sentence should not be in front of the cameras trying to do a 'live' report.

The Shrub *sucks*. So glad he condescended to come off his vacation to 'survey the damage'. Jerk.

I have no problem with people 'looting' water, food, milk, diapers, whatever - but please, the guys stealing Nike shoes? Idiots.

I hope the Shrub hops to it and gets things going down there - i'm absolutely sick at the thought of those thousands of people who have not only no job or money but no home, no clothes, no family mementos - *nothing*. It's horrifying.

Anonymous comments don't bother me a bit. But if you had an LJ account you could have a spiffy picture!
:)

[tabaqui]

The seven-dollar-a-gallon guy was on the side of the road somewhere between NO and Houston. A reporter who was going to Houston to follow up on the refugees being moved there had to get gas in order to keep going and she bought some from the guy. Still, very lame.

Yes - loot water, loot food - but loot Nikes? Gah. I can't stand it. And why oh why didn't the Shrub or *someone* send in the National Guard or somebody to help get out the people who had no money and no transport? So damn irresponsible.

*smooches you*

[tabaqui]

Yes !! Fic! I can't believe you didn't see it!
*smooch*

[tabaqui]

Heeeeeee.
I dunno!

[tabaqui]

That sucks, bay-bee. But take heart - i saw a lot of pictures today of wind-damaged homes and flooding and there were a LOT of trees still standing. Willows are water-loving trees so maybe they survived.

*hugs*

I'm feeling the same. I can't believe that senior citizens and handicapped and freakin' 'poor people' were just abandoned. Our govt. sucks so hard. And gods know what's in the cards for these poor people - no homes, no jobs, no money, no recourses... It's going to be bad, and it's going to be bad for a LONG TIME.

*hugs you again, just 'cause i can*

[tabaqui]

Wow. That's a bit much. That's EXACTLY what i mean! Sensationalizing. It's bad enough without that kind of idiotic commentary.

*reels*
Please let's NOT bring Noah into this.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Shrub. Heh. Did you know he found this all exciting enough to come back early from his vacation? Of course, not until a day or so after Katrina hit. *is completely disgusted*

[tabaqui]

He so SUCKS. I know. Vacation. WTFEVER!!!

*kicks him hard*
*in the head*
*with an iron boot*

[chriself.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on the sensationalist reporting. The event itself is sensational enough without unfounded comparisons. Also, by now we know that the gulf coast is decimated, what we need to know is how to find out about survivors, what we can do to help, and what the plan is to recover and rebuild.

I don't mind hearing the human interest stories. I heard one tonight that made me boil. A couple and their 4 kids, who had been safe in Florida, returned to survey the damage to their home and the homes of relatives. Any number of things pissed me off. One, you are safe in Fla. staying somewhere with relatives..Why the f***would you pack four kids in a car and drive into Hell? If you must survey the wreckage, for god sake, leave your pregnant wife and your 4 kids somewhere safe, where there is food and clean water. Two, the story showed them as where they had just spent the night in their car, no gas and a flat tire, outside a CVS that had been hit by the storm but was still functioning. They charged the family for a few boxes of cookies and some lemonade for the kids to eat. I get that they are a retail establishment, but show some compassion for God's sake. Some of the employees gave the family some more food and stuff for the kids, a bottle of fix a flat, and some other random guy fronted them some gas but Jeez!

I don't mind the guy looting shoes. I'm sure lots of people lost theirs wading through the floodwaters. It was the guy toting a big ass TV out of the store and into the flooded street that made me burn. You don't even have any power, dumbass!
And speaking of, Shrub is a double dumb ass. So gracious of him to survey the damage from his private Jet! And to finally get a CLUE that the people really DO need HELP!
*end of my mini rant*

[yourlibrarian]

Sorry to pop in on the conversation but I used to live in Hattiesburg and couldn't get through to someone I still know there. I figured that there was likely no power and a lot of evacuees there, but all the news reports are concentrating on the worst hit areas and I've been wondering how the city fared. Just wanted to say I was glad to hear some news of it (even if it doesn't sound good).

[tabaqui]

Oh, wow, yes. People are insane.
And YES, tell us how to help and whatnot, don't just drone on and on about how 'New Orleans is destroyed' - it's NOT, and we GET IT. Gods teeth.

I think, give 'em an inch and the natives of that city will get it back to full swing within a year.

Yeah, looting a giant tv - good luck getting THAT out of there! Jerk.

And i just wanna SLAP the Shrub. Gaaaaaaaaaah.

[tabaqui]

Cool - i'm glad you got SOME news.

That's annoying too - more than just Biloxi and New Orleans got hit.
*sigh*

Hope your friend is okay.

[ely-jan.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

Killing to watch all the devastation...worse to see how little our government cares about the situation. How little it cared for those unable to help themselves.

Tragic on so many unnecessary levels - I hope it's not soon forgotten.

*weeps*

[tabaqui]

Yes to all of that. I'm angrier by the day at the Shrub and his cronies and a govt. that is so short-sighted and wasteful and ultimately, uncaring.

Bah.

*hugs*

[shighola.livejournal.com]

I was agreeing with you about the reporting thing, but then what do you expect? The news is just a ratings game, which is why I never watch it.

Regarding the Shrub, don't tell me you're surprised he didn't do something proactive that would actually help people? Please, that man has never been poor and has no concept of what it's like to be poor.

And I hear you about the looters, but stores should have been giving things away! Not Nike's mind you, and those people are stupid and deserve to go to jail, but food, water, clothes. They're surprised that people are stealing the things they need??!! I can tell you definitively, that if it were me, I'd be doing the same thing.

And my uncle and his family checked in, they're fine. Decided to ride out a hurricane in a trailer in the middle of the swamp, so they're obviously insane, but physically ok.

[rose217.livejournal.com]

Frustrating? Yeah. Not knowing about areas that aren't being mentioned. Is it because it's so bad they can't get there? Too dangerous? Not bad enough to sensationalize?

And the footage is obnoxious. Zoom out. Let me get a landmark or something so I know where the hell you are.

They keep getting so close to my office and then zooming away.

Slidell is hardly mentioned, though it was leveled. My house In pearl River is fine. My sitter's house-no clue. My in-laws in Pass Christian is gone. They are in Florida and all fine. Deciding what to do now.

The west bank is mostly dry, but the thugs are out. A friend' dad stayed behind and he's armed himself and some neighbors and barricaded a two block area until the National Guard can get in. He broke into my friend's house, and some other peoples' to rescue cats and salvage food for others. He put up some friends that had to leave their house in a neighbor's house. He was an EMT in the Air Force and while he has the ability to leave, he doesn't want to. His wife is a nurse at East Jeff Hosp.

None of us really thought this would happen. We knew on a rational level that it was possible. But the looting and violence...

It's been frustrating with the national news. It's hard to tell when they are being sensational and when they are just floored and can't get out the words. They also have no clue about the geography and aren't much help in getting out what's actually happening. They are only talking about all the terrible things that are happening. But they aren't telling us what's okay.

[tabaqui]

Yup, exactly. They keep focusing on stupid shit and not getting out the damn info people *need*.

I hate that it's so ghoulish - they seem so excited when they can pump up the death toll or tell some yucky story.

Gah.

And the Shrub is NOT helping, nor is FEMA or damn 'Homeland Security'. Jayzus. These people are so not prepared it's terrifying.

And i can't do a single helpful thing. So frustrating.

I'm glad your family is safe and well.
*hugs*

[tabaqui]

OMG! Well, maybe being in a swamp helped - tress and stuch to deflect the storm surge? Gah!

The Shrub makes me wanna smack him every single time i see his smirky little face. Jayzus.

And i have no quarrel with the 'looting' of water and food and such, even medecine! But Nikes and TVs...so lame. How about stop looting and go rescue somebody from their attic!

Gah. I hate that something dreadful happens and people start acting like total asshats.
*sigh*

And i'm frustrated, as i can do NOTHING. Just nothing.

I'm glad your family did okay. Sheesh.

[rose217.livejournal.com]

We were talking last night about how embarassing it seems that Houston is so prepared to help us. I pointed out to Dustin that Houston has money and NO does not. That is what has been so frustrating for so many years for me. Working there, I know the problems, what needs to be done, etc. There just isn't any money to do it with. When 1 billion dollars seems like a good start, but not nearly enough you know you're in trouble.

I get shaky thinking about everything. Just angry and helpless. But we've decided to make the trip back to the house. No facilities are up and running, but it's a house in a mostly rural area. They are setting up a FEMA station at our courthouse and we are going to go back and *DO* something. And I may be able to find out how I can get back to work repairing some of the damaged infrastructure.

Despite what the talking heads are blathering about we *are* hopeful. You can't get the cajuns down. We're *way* to ornery. :)

*Hugs* back.

[tabaqui]

Cool. Very cool. And how lame is it that thousands of dead and displaced just doesn't *rate*.

*grrrrrrr, argh*

Be safe, be careful. Onery is *good*.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Everything else I can think of (I'm also a bit annoyed that we're not hearing more information about some of the cities hit by Katrina, but meh):

As of this morning, there are seven confirmed fatalities in Forrest County. Of course, no names were released. The city is out of gas, both diesel and otherwise. None to be had. There's a lot of structural damage; Southern isn't going to be able to reopen for a few weeks. The Holiday Inn right by the junction of 49 and I59 is pretty wrecked. As of a few days ago, 49 wasn't cleared of enough debris for traveling on. Petal has been hit very hard. Apparently the mayor didn't put them on the disaster list (I heard this on the radio, but as has been mentioned in this post, there's a lotta hyperbole going on in the media at the moment so I dunno how true this is; I can't believe the mayor would forget to do that) and there's no bottled water left. People are lining up at the Coliseum in Hattiesburg to get ice and water. My mom said the disaster people told them 4-6 weeks for power to be restored and longer than that for phone services.

I know this isn't very positive information, but I know I've been wanting to find every scrap of info I can. I hope your friend is okay.

[redsrule1.livejournal.com]

She probably is, but I know she also has family in the city and in Louisiana so something is likely to be bad somewhere. I really appreciate the info, good, bad or otherwise. I have another friend from NO but she made it out to Alabama before the storm hit and is fine but not expecting to return for a month.

Yes, this "epicenter" sort of coverage is pretty frustrating. Last year when the hurricanes went through Florida (where I'm from), I couldn't find much news about Orlando at all short of the Orlando newspaper's online edition. It was a similar situation -- took a big hit from the storm but wasn't leveled. However it went through weeks of recovery just to become operational again. There's STILL unrepaired damage from the storm and that's a big city. Hardly a word in the national news.

[yourlibrarian]

Sorry, that was me above. Forgot my SO leaves himself logged into LJ on his computer.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Maybe we'll hear more about the areas the media is neglecting in the coming days.

PS How nice that you and your SO share an lj addiction. Heeeeee.....

[yourlibrarian]

Verrry lucky -- he writes Buffyverse fanfic :D