Root for Brian Ellner

I'm not political when it comes to the local stuff -- despite the fact that I am currently living in Philadelphia, I still heart Manhattan and Brooklyn. I may return to Manhattan when I am done with my dreams in Philadelphia.

Nevertheless, someone whined about this advertisement which Brian Ellner (Democrat) is campaigning to be the President of Manhattan Borough. He is gay. Since I could not hear what it was being said. I sought a cute hearing guy to write down. He did it. I was amused by the advertisement.

The script goes like this:

He says he promotes life but sends our soldiers to die. He says he'll leave no child behind but he won't fund out public schools. He claims he's a uniter but new yorkers know; the emperor has no clothes.

"Hi I'm Brian Ellner and I'm running for Manhattan Borough President to stand up for our progressive values and it starts here. I grew up in Stuyesvant Town and I know something about New Yorkers. We tell you how we feel, we don't apologize for what we believe, and we're not afraid of a fight. I'm Brian Ellner, and this is my partner, Simon.

Vote Brian Ellner, and make New York proud.

It does not hurt that Brian Ellner is cute as well. So is Simon. If I was in New York, I'd vote for Brian Ellner. Something different. Something new.

Cheers,

R-

The Aftermath Pictures

I was surfing the 'net and saw this picture -- it made me wonder. Why are the cars' trunks open? Is it a new safety feature that pops open under pressure?


Here is the example of levee being breached. It is not small. It is huge one.


This is interesting, a tornado touched on a chicken farm in Georgia, probably sending thousands of white dots in the air for a little while. It'd be funny sight to behold. For sure, this place stinks!


Wow, the oil rig is stuck under a bridge in Mobile, Alabama -- it was pushed by Katrina into the bridge. It only takes 145 MPH to do that.

My friend told me that he stopped by the local gas station. They're out of regular unleaded. And, expect this to happen sporadically everywhere else. Blame it on Katrina! Blame it on Katrina! Blame it on Katrina!

GW Bush flew to New Orleans. He looked so gay when he stepped out of Air Force One with his ugly dog in his right arm as he walked to the helicopter to survey the damages in New Orleans. He boarded his dog on the helicopter. Sounds like the exact thing that Merritt Holloway would have done, right?

Here is our local idiot, Michael Micaravage, the leader of RepentAmerica who harassed gays for years -- he said that God destroyed New Orleans because of gays. Who's next? Anyone to wage bets who will say the most stupid things in the coming days to lay the blame? Only time will tell.

R-

Well, well, well ... !

Click to read the comments on the image.

1. Gas prices. Blamed on Katrina as usual. What a crock of shit.

2. Levees breached. You know what is so funny? One person commented in French Quarters that they were spared by Katrina when the Hurricane headed up north. That there was minimal damage and no "flood" prior to the levees' collapses. I was holding my breath because I knew Katrina would pull a sucker punch. And she did.

I knew the levees would be breached *after* Katrina left the town, know why? The soil in Louisiana are saturated with water, the soil rejected the water and it went into Lake Pontchartrain. Of course, the lake grew bigger because Katrina dumped the rain on it as well as other water that flowed into the lake. Then the city of New Orleans attempted to pump all water that were rained on the city into the lake -- overflowing the capacity of the lake itself -- it breached several levees and flooded the city. Then the water pump tried to pump it back into the lake ... again, just to make things worse.

Basically, it was a time bomb waiting to happen in the first place.

You see, the environment where New Orleans is is not designed to support a major city. In fact, it is swamp. For years, people drained the swamps out of the land and make it a city. It is fitting that Katrina attempts to restore its nature by burying the town back to the original state.

For years, there were no communities on coastal areas. Look at Savannah, St. Augustine, New York, Jamestown, Baltimore, Philadelphia --these towns were situated not on the coastal area -- they were situated far inland bit outside of the coastal areas. Tthe people back then knew that it is not always safe to live by the coastal areas because of hurricanes.

But Time has changed -- thanks to our capitalism, it practically ignored the safety of others by providing what people wanted. Supply and demand, basically. People liked the beaches, they have the money and means to build a community right on the beachfront. In the last 100 years, The beachfront communities exploded all over the eastern seaboard all the way from Maine to Texas!

These communities are subjected to be taken care of by our mother nature's plaything: Hurricanes. Which is why Biloxi, Gulfport and others were trashed just like that.

It is not that I'm malicious. It is how the mother nature operates. We can either accomodate or challenge the mother nature's whims.

If people really wanted to keep New Orleans intact -- Jason Lamberton and I had a conversation via the IM recently and frankly, we had the same thing in mind. In fact, we IMmed each other at the same time of our "imagineable solution' for the city of New Orleans -- drain Lake Pontchartrain. It was frightening that we had the similar idea.

Simply close the flow into the Gulf of Mexico (mainly because it is on the same sea level) and drain the lake as much as they can -- sell the water to the West -- perhaps New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona or California? Build a massive pipeline from the lake to the southwest -- hell, Alaska did, did they?

Try to keep the lake down as much as 15 to 30 feet below the city. It is a possibility. Hell, the city of New Orleans can make bottled water called Lake Pontchartrain -- yeah, I know the lake itself is salt water but ... we can remove the salt and make bottled waters! Not bad idea ... the possibilities are endless -- they can simply drain the lake to prevent it from breaching the levees ever again.

We cannot get rid of hurricanes but we can modify the arrangements *around* us -- the only option is to close the lake and drain!

How did the hurricane come in formation? Well, you can always blame Africa, really. There is a natural phenomenon called Intertropical Convergence Zone, also known as ITCZ. It is situated near the equator where the northeast trade winds and southeast trade winds merges and created the low pressure that caused the tropical atmosphere in Africa.

These low pressures soon drifted into the Atlantic Ocean where it occasionally, thanks to the solar heats, worked its way into Tropical Depression. If the winds reached more than 39 MPH, it gets a name from the National Hurricane Center as well as classify it as Tropical Storm. If it goes over 74 MPH, it becomes a hurricane. They added "Category 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5" not a long time ago to define the might of hurricanes. Basically, it is ITCZ that produces hurricanes. Yes, the warm waters played a huge role in this. It was said that the Atlantic Ocean used to have less than 10 Tropical Storms/Hurricanes but thanks to global warming, we have more than 10 per year. It is still a theory amongst the scientists and meterologists, though.

Now, you can see why I can echo with the old man in the image above. He seems to be wise, is he?

Cheers,

R-

8.30.05 Tidbits

John Constantine Is Cool: I watched the flick today where Keanu Reeves performed as John Constantine in Constantine -- perhaps some people do not like because it touched the issues of Heaven and Hell altogether. I loved when Constantine said, "God? He is like a kid playing with his ant farm."

When Lucifer failed to beat John Constantine, you could see John flipping him the middle finger. So dramatic! It was great to see that so-holier-than-thou angels were flawed as well -- especially with Angel Gabriel who turned out to be more of a human than an angel. That bitch. Keanu, as always, rocks my balls!

Way To Go, Arizona Daily Star! In Tucson, its own newspaper, The Arizona Daily Star, a newspaper for a conservative town like Tucson has had enough of Ann Coulter's antics as they dropped her syndicated articles as of now after she chortled that NYC would surrender if someone attacked the town. Good riddance, bitch!

Which One Is Better? Last Saturday, I was invited to a barbecue by a hearing but heterosexual friend of mine. I observed that they had the keg of beer, buffalo wings, burgers, hot dogs and condiments. It made me realize something ... gay men hosted barbecues a million times better than heterosexuals do.

What Do You Say To This Pregnant Woman? Last Friday, I saw a pregnant woman walking into the local bar and ordered White Russian drink, much to my chagrin. Nobody objected. I wondered what am I supposed to say in this situation? Should I walk over to her and say, "Honey, get an abortion, please?"

Mama Gotti Is Still The Champ! I watched the latest episode of that "Growing Up Gotti" where Mama Gotti and her boys flew to Italy for the summer vacation. I could not stop grinning when Mama Gotti seemed uninterested when the bus drove by one ancient building which is the Italian landmark of some sorts, she said, "Let's be serious! New York has these! I'm telling you, we are spoiled! New York has everything -- my grandfather said that Asians and Europeans fight to get in New York! We have Park Avenue, Madison Ave, 6th Avenue and many more. What does this town has that New York does not have?"

Later, they went to a decent italian restaurant where Mama Gotti was horrified when she learned the lunch she had was produced by an Indian chef, not Italian chef! Mama Gotti, despite the fact she is Italian, tried to communicate with some guys in Italian -- she ridiculed the folks, "Can you say this word? Cheap-o! Cheap-o!"

I'd love to have her as my mother for a week. Serious case.

She rocks.

Frankie, John and Carmine are still hot, fYI.

Cheers,

R-

The Question Is: Is It Wrong?

A certain fellow referred me to GuideStar.org and I browsed through the latest Fiscal Year budgets from different agencies for/of/by the Deaf. Oh, man. Is Communication Services for the Deaf supposed to be non-profit organization? What about the Captioned Media Programs? What about National Association for the Deaf? It mentioned the salary figures of prominent persons which I think the readers should know. After all, it is legal. If hearing people can do this, so can they.

At CSD according to 2004 FY Budget
Benjamin J. Soukup, President/CEO: $729,596
Patty Kuglitsch, Corporate Secretary/Compliacne: $140,634
Randy Gerloff, Corporate Treasurer/Chief Financial Advisory Officer: $357,795
Dr. Roslyn "Roz" Rosen, Consultant: $105,417
Jim Skjeveland, Senior Vice President of Contact Center Operations: $158,539
Dr. Phil Bravin, Technology & Research and Development Officer: $172,409
Ann Marie Mickelson, Senior Vice President of Interpreting Operations: $212,382

Except for Rosen, all lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota which is relatively cheap place to live. I completely understand that they are in these positions, but it is non-profit organization which does not really mean anything to larger non-profit organization -- why so enormous? Hell, I need that 30K out of Soukup's salary annually, really!

At NAD & CMP according to 2004 FY Budget
Nancy Bloch, Executive Director: $108,994
Andrew Lange, NAD President: $0
Anita Farb, Director of Outreach and Communications: $61,920
Kelby Brick, Director of Law and Advocacy: $55,336
Bill Stark, Captioned Media Program Project Manager: $98,669
Dianne Stark, Captioned Media Program Production Developer: $88,272
Jason Stark, Captioned Media Program District Manager: $68,587

I have no objection to these except for three Starks -- I think it is conflict of interest. I'm not familiar with this stuff so I'll leave you to your own imagination.

At Gallaudet University according to 2003 FY Budget
I. King Jordan, President: $513,364 with deferred compensation up to $69,304
Paul Kelly, Vice President of Administration and Finance: $268,301 with deferred compensation up to $36,221
Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, Provost: $233,263 with deferred compensation to $31,491.

Gallaudet also paid $217,958 to two investment firms in 2003 to manage their investments ... I think.

Gallaudet University Alumni Association according to 2003 FY Budget
None earned more than 90K. I guess they are that POOR! Contribute bit more to GUAA when you're in DC for Gallaudet's Homecoming!

Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness, Inc. according to 2004 FY Budget
Dr. Patriicia Hughes, Executive Director: $106,627

Nobody comes closer to her salary figure because there is a high turnover ratio at GLAD.

Deaf Counseling, Advocacy, and Referral Agency according to 2004 FY Budget
Rob Roth, Executive Director: $326,259 $89,252.

No one came closer to his salary figure at DCARA in Bay Area. I wonder why it pays more than GLAD in Los Angeles? As of now, Rob Roth resigned from his job and Jim Brune is now the Interim Executive Director.

UPDATE: Rob Roth informed me of an error which I checked and can confirm that he did not earn $326,259. IN fact, he earned $89,252. Thanks for letting me know so that I can correct this, Rob.

DeafREACH according to 2004 FY Budget
Sarah Brown, Executive Director: $68,645

Perhaps the only reasonable organization of all that is pretty fair.

New York Society for the Deaf according to 2003 FY Budget
Kathleen Cox, Executive Director who cannot sign worth a shit: $80,892
Elaine Weiss, Director of Housing who cannot perform anything: $59,622
Linda Lawson, Chief Financial Officer: $55,797

There are names on NYSD that I chose not to list because they are no longer working at the agency, what's the point of pointing if they do not work there?

As you can see at NYSD, these three persons hold so much power at NYSD -- Lawson, Weiss and Cox -- all cannot sign nor read anyone's signs. It is travesty that we allow these people to take over the operations and act in "good faith" or "goodwill" to represent us. Please get rid of people who cannot sign worth a shit.

Any comments?

R-

Few Tidbits About Katrina

Best Quote of the Week: Michael Seward, 45, reported that going to Mississippi is “That’s a fate worse than death.” He quipped that he fled from Mississippi to be in New Orleans a long time ago. Probably because he cannot deal with idiots that runs rampant in Mississippi.

Southern Decadence Jeopardized? New Orleans' famous Labor Day Weekend of hedonistic activities for gay men called Southern Decadence may be threatened with Katrina's destruction of New Orleans. Now, come to think of this, this may be the reason why Matt Drudge is interested in this -- he probably wanted to sneak to New Orleans for Southern Decadence, he has to keep tabs of what is going on in that town before he can arrive on 2nd of September. If the town is inhabitable.

Other Than Tornadoes, Floods ...: We have to keep in mind that not only the debris will float around the city of New Orleans if they are to be submerged by the nearby lake, there will be some interesting sights to see tomorrow morning -- know why?

The sewage plant treatment is right next to the levee, it surely will be flooded and all things that can pass diseases are out, floating. Want more? There are cemetaries in New Orleans which has coffins stacking upon the other as part of French Catholic tradition, they will float as well. Want more? Throw in some bayou alligators and snakes in the mix as well.

This is once in a lifetime opportunity to ride the city out -- if anyone else managed to survive, they are going to have several books lined up to be written about their experiences with Katrina in New Orleans.

One Bargoer Drops F-Bomb on FOX NEWS Reporter: On Bourbon Street, recently around 5:30 PM, Fox NEWS Reporter found a bargoer on the Bourbon Street drinking and played a videogame. He asked him why he's still around. The bargoer snapped, "None of your fucking business!" Suddenly, the reporter responded, "Good answer."

Whites Can Leave, Blacks ... Stay! I was watching the reports of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. As you already knew, thousands left New Orleans. Some cannot afford to leave the city as they either walked, hitchiked to the local shelters. I saw the footage of folks coming in SuperDome to ride out the storm, I noticed that the majority, I mean huge, of the people that seeks the shelters are African Americans. C'mon, what's that? This implied that the gap between two races has not improved significantly?

Which One Makes The Landfall? Many Meterologists claimed that to make the landfall, the eye of the storm has to on the landfall, period. I can understand the technical means of others to indicate that the storm's eyewall has arrived -- but the troublesome part of the storm tends to be the outskirts of the eyewall, so when it loomed into the coastal beaches, I consider it arrived. Not the eyewall itself, but that is me.

R-

What Airlines Does The Best -- Discrimination!

After reading Kevin's suggestion, I emailed JetBlue through its Speak Up page about the in-flight captions.

They responded. In fact, they were lying. I checked with Jason Lamberton about it, he confirmed that they said the same thing 2 years ago when he rang them up about the in-flight captions.

As you can see, we need to whack some baseball bats in these airlines for perpetuating such discrimination on Deaf customers for too long. Boycotting will not help because they viewed Deaf customers to be "insignificant" numbers to deal with.

Here is the e-mail that I received from JetBlue:

To: ridor9th@gmail.com
Re: email received Friday,08/26/05 11:48 AM, Speak Up 1089962

Dear Mr. Taylor,

Thank you for your email regarding closed caption on the DIRECTV® system used on JetBlue aircraft. At this time our DIRECTV® system is not capable of decoding closed caption signals. However, we do have our engineers investigating ways for us to offer closed captioning in the future.

Please know that JetBlue is in full compliance with regulations regarding customers traveling with disabilities. We appreciate your interest in JetBlue and look forward to welcoming you onboard another JetBlue flight soon.

Sincerely,

John Adams
Customer Commitment Crew
JetBlue Airways
Crewmember 21996

In fact, they are lying. DIRECTV is capable of decoding captions on all modernized TV sets! I knew of several friends that has DIRECTV in their homes. IN fact, they decoded just fine.

Did you know that they are working on a plan to modernize the planes with a system for hearing customers to use the cell phones for their convenient means? If they can do it, that is utterly unfair because I think the captions has to be done first before satisfy the damned supply and demand factor!

Obviously, the diplomatic approach as Kevin suggested has resulted in another bullshit by a hearing corporation -- so what is the next option? I'm in favor of something else.

I'm sick of dealing with these hearie liars.

R-