Cemetery Gates

September 29 2005

Bookmark

this resource if you live in California. Just joking, I think it could be useful to many. Tons of links plus readings for a class called "A Scientific Look at Alternative Medicine." Found here.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 29, 2005 07:54 | link | comments |

September 27 2005

Mythmaking

in New Orleans.

Following days of internationally reported killings, rapes and gang violence inside the Dome, the doctor from FEMA - Beron doesn't remember his name - came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.

"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalls the doctor saying.

The real total was six, Beron said.

Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the turning over of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice. State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been killed inside.

and

At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies were recovered, despites reports of corpses piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been slain, said health and law enforcement officials.

That the nation's front-line emergency management believed the body count would resemble that of a bloody battle in a war is but one of scores of examples of myths about the Dome and the Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials, including the mayor and police superintendent. As the fog of warlike conditions in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath has cleared, the vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.

and about the Guardsman who was shot

Watt was attacked inside one of the Dome's locker rooms, which he entered with another soldier. In the darkness, as he walked through about six inches of water, Watt was attacked with a metal rod, a piece of a cot. But the bullet that penetrated Watt's leg came from his own gun - he accidentally shot himself in the commotion. The attacker never took his gun from him, Baldwin said. New Orleans police investigated the matter fully and sent the suspect to jail in Breaux Bridge, Baldwin said.

Of course, ghosts always make a great story:

The presence of the supernatural and the influence of voodoo long have been synonymous with New Orleans.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, members of the U.S. military are saying that there's something spooky going on and it's not just images of death and destruction that's haunting them.

This story has great footage of a chaplain, including the the quote "where ever soldiers go, there goes the will of God."

posted by: cemeterygates at September 27, 2005 07:13 | link | comments |

September 26 2005

Almost 40 years ago

"Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Listen or read.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 26, 2005 08:24 | link | comments |

Cool resource

University Channel. Lectures and panels you can watch online.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 26, 2005 07:10 | link | comments |

September 24 2005

Siblings

Solvij likened Grethe, who can and will tell you more than you could ever imagine about some subjects, to "a malfunctioning dictionary."

posted by: cemeterygates at September 24, 2005 21:04 | link | comments (1) |

September 22 2005

Alcatraz

Many more pictures here.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 22, 2005 21:00 | link | comments |

September 20 2005

Small town life

I was in the waiting room at the doctor's today. A young couple came in and sat down across from me. Being a miserable misanthrope, I thought the kissing and baby talk were annoying. I had no clue how bad it would get until she started popping his zits.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 20, 2005 13:33 | link | comments |

September 19 2005

Does it still look

strange and modern?

posted by: cemeterygates at September 19, 2005 07:42 | link | comments (1) |

September 17 2005

I've always had a sentimental attachment to Tales of the City

Wing Nut Daily is finally covering the homo coffee cup outrage at Starbucks:

The funniest thing about the story is the quote from CWA:

"Corporations have deeper pockets and therefore more influence than individuals do," said Maureen Richardson, director of Concerned Women for America of Washington.

"I think it's wiser for them to stay out of these issues so that they don't offend conservatives and people of faith."

First off, that just doesn't make any sense, logically speaking. Second, how many WND and CWA folks hang out at Starbucks? Seriously.

An earlier article from the Seattle Times.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 17, 2005 08:43 | link | comments (3) |

September 16 2005

Spread the word

about Halloween fun.

"While supplies last we are offering a fantastic and novel way to make a difference in your neighborhood for the Messiah!

JOY is a fictional novel about a young girl and her family. Through reading it one is exposed to the truth about Halloween. While the book does not force anyone to give up Halloween, it gives enough information for even non-believers to make an informed decision about a holiday that is not purely innocent."

posted by: cemeterygates at September 16, 2005 19:41 | link | comments |

September 11 2005

Electronically challenged

I think I'll have to figure out how to program my VCR tonight. Then again, it's great to have a teenager around for really important tasks.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 11, 2005 20:02 | link | comments |

Success

Is having a garage sale during the all-town garage sale, selling a bunch of junk, and not buying any one else's junk.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 11, 2005 11:27 | link | comments (1) |

September 9 2005

Who's to blame?

A weatherman (from Idaho) claims Japanese mafia behind Hurricane Katrina. They used electromagnetic generators.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 09, 2005 06:35 | link | comments (1) |

September 5 2005

Newest word I hate

"De-water." What happened to drain?

posted by: cemeterygates at September 05, 2005 11:11 | link | comments |

September 3 2005

What did we do to deserve this?

Interesting piece on beliefnet about the human tendency to blame something for Hurricane Katrina. Deborah Caldwell covers the traditional Christian apocalyptic theory á la Repent America, one woman's belief that we're being punished for pulling out of the Gaza strip, and the sin-based approach of environmentalists:

Meanwhile, spiritual and political environmentalists say that massive hurricanes such as Katrina, along with the Asian tsunami, are messages from the earth, letting humanity know of the earth’s pain. These hurricanes are caused by global warming, environmentalists say, which are the result of using too much fossil fuel. They see the catastrophic consequences as a kind of comeuppance.

and

The thought of this region, or even the nation, being somehow punished for its sins, conjures twin feelings of excitement and dread among apocalyptic thinkers. On one hand, they seem delighted that a divine plan appears to be unfolding. With horrific events such as this, they believe, God (or Mother Nature) has shown them the world is so evil that it is closer than ever to the end of human history--which means they will spend eternity in a happier place. Yet they also believe God (or Mother Nature) is punishing Americans. That gives rise to their urgent need to stave off destruction through prayer, scolding, and trying to convert people to their way of thinking.

It seems like this has been lost in the shuffle, but Louis Farrakhan also gave his theory this week of the punishment by hurricane: retribution for the war in Iraq. Oh, and our general wickedness, too.

posted by: cemeterygates at September 03, 2005 06:18 | link | comments (1) |

If you're tired of watching the big US coverage of the South, I'd recommend watching Univision.

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