ornamental

ILLNESS

Thursday, September 1, 2005

I just feel like screaming right now

Sometimes I really love where I live. Othertimes, I despise it. Today is one of those days. Our city is changing the way they pick up refuse. No longer will human garbage collectors pick up trashcans and empty them into a garbage truck. No, too many on-the-job injuries. Instead, they will have an automated system that will put the burden of injuries on the public instead with their humungous rollaway trash receptacles (2 per household, one for recyclables, one for trash) that will somehow have to be manouevered out to the curb and back every other week. See, my problem with this is the Disney Witch (Mayor Dave, perhaps?) that thought this up probably lives on a suburban road with a big, fat 2-car garage that can easily house said receptacles when not in use, and easily rolled out down a gently sloping driveway to the curb, and safely rolled back at the end of the day. But not everyone lives like that. Not everyone has a garage to store them, not everyone has a driveway, and not everyone lives a neat little suburban life that easily accommodates hairbrained ideas from the city's ruling elite. We live on a hill, with a set of concrete stairs leading up to our front "lawn". There are 22 steps in all from the street to our front door. And we've always had trash pick up in our alley--that's one of the beautiful things about alleys, it hides your trash from your front yard. But just because we have an alley doesn't mean we have a nice garage with a gently sloping driveway. It's tight quarters. Our "garage" is more like a shed (it was built in the early part of the last century) that is packed to the rafters with storage. There is no driveway, just a parking area where our vans are. Two cars are a very tight fit. And both garage and parking area are flush up against the alley. We figured we could probably store the receptacles behind the vans when not in use (they're supposed to be "out of sight"), and when Stan drives to work on pick-up day, he can wheel them out to where his van normally parks. But it's not like we can wheel them back to the house...it's on a hill, remember, and we have to climb another set of stairs to get up to the alley. (This is the punishment I get for wanting to live on a hill in San Francisco where you had to climb steps to get to your house back when I was a teenager) We figured out we could manage it.

But today, they delivered the receptacles. Not to the alley, but to the curb out front.

Like hell this is going to happen.

I'm too pissed off right now, I'll leave the "contacting the city officials" bit for Stan. His blood pressure is lower. And my arm is injured, so he can probably throw the bin a lot farther than I could, too.

OK, this rant was about Madison, Wisconsin. I'm not even going to go on a rant about the other place I live, the USA. This country that should have started deploying the National and Coast Guards at the first sign such a large storm was heading toward the Gulf Coast. I am so angry each time I see the news with those poor people at the Superdome and the Convention Center, living worse than animals. Why weren't there troops amassed at a close but safe distance before the hurricane even came? Didn't they see the impending disaster? Don't they know from past disasters that people need sanitation and food? Don't they know that bad storm = loss of electricity = blackout + large urban environment = looting and mob rule? WTF? What is the world thinking of us? One thing, I'm glad that the world can see this on the news, not that they don't know already that we have a dolt in the White House, but so they know that not everyone in the US lives like the tourists that come to their countries and give false impressions of what all Americans are like.

Oh, and here's a brilliant Dubya quote. During a news conference today he was talking about the effect Katrina had on the affected coastal oil refineries and the rising price and scarcity of gas, he said, "if ya don't need it, don't buy it." Yeah, I always like to stock up on gasoline. Don't really need it, but I just like having it around.

Posted by Ann on 09/01/05@05:20 PM CST ..::Link::..Whisper or Scream?

The Sewer Bowl

I have hesitated writing about the tragedy in New Orleans because what could I say that either hasn't been said or that could offer any insight or help? I am sitting here during incredibly beautiful dry northern weather, and almost feel guilty. Wisconsin is in a drought, but if it's any consolation, I guess the drought couldn't have come at a better time because had it been a moist season, what would the farmers do with their harvest anyway? The major ports that export grains out of the country were in the Gulf, and now they're closed. A bounty would simply go to waste.

Analogies are thrown about. Monday I thought of Pompeii, and today I heard that reference on the news. I've also heard Atlantis, America's tsunami, and Hiroshima. But as I watched lines of people walking down highways, trying to leave the city by foot, an exodous of poor, homeless refugees, another analogy came to mind. I thought of the Dust Bowl in the 30s. Except this is the Sewer Bowl.

In 2001 there was 9/11, the biggest attack on American soil. Now, Katrina is the biggest natural disaster on American soil. And although Nature knows no timeline, or national boundaries, I can't help but think that these events both happened on George Bush's watch. If I were some sort of doomsday Bible nut, or if I had religious leanings of any kind, I would say that these were the signs of the Antichrist, and the Beast was Bush. But I'm not. I just think it's a bit...odd. And I'm pissed that our reserves are fighting some punitive war overseas that I was against from day one while they could be helping and protecting their own countrymen right now, here.

Of course, it's not just the President and his politics that disgust me. It's the looters. Not the looters that are getting food, or even shoes so that they won't cut their feet in this mess or towels to dry themselves off. It's the ones that are getting TVs, appliances, jewelry. A hella good a tv will do you in a blackout. Bastards.

Posted by Ann on 09/01/05@08:42 AM CST ..::Link::..Whisper or Scream?

Monday, August 29, 2005

Here's a fresh corpse for you...

...one of my favorites...

Posted by Ann on 08/29/05@08:20 AM CST ..::Link::..Whisper or Scream?
By Ann @ 05:20 PM CST:09:01:05 ..::Link::..Whisper or Scream?

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