Dan Savage, Chill With Your Race Baiting

Dan Savage just won't give up pimping that thoroughly discredited meme about the Prop 8 loss in Ca-lee-forn-ia.

“I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

"This will get my name scratched of the invite list of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is famous for its anti-racist-training seminars, but whatever. Finally, I’m searching for some exit poll data from California. I’ll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8.”

Damn, just when we thought the drama over Prop 8 had subsided a bit, here comes Savage pouring gasoline on the smoldering embers.

Yo Dan, you want fries and A1 sauce to go with your roasted shorts?

From where I, other Black GLBT people and our allies sit, you're part of the racist gay white male club. You definitely need to attend one of those anti-racism training sessions you trashed at the 2010 Creating Change Conference in Dallas February 3-7..

Get this through your thick head. African-Americans make up only 9% of the total population of California. We're significantly concentrated in just five counties, Alameda, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego. Prop 8 won by a half a million votes.

If we were as powerful a voting bloc as you claim, Gray Davis would have survived his 2003 recall vote, Tom Bradley would have been elected governor of California in 1982 and Ronald Reagan would have never set foot in the governor's mansion in Sacramento..

How do you explain Alameda County (Oakland) voting AGAINST Prop 8, especially since there are lots of chocolate flavored folks living there?

But I and the African-American GLBT community are more than a little sick of your race baiting attacks on our community. It's got our allies concerned and is pissing off our supporters in the African-American community as well..

I guess it escaped your attention that some of your major legislative supporters have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus such as the current chair of the CBC, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and civil rights icon Rep John Lewis (D-GA).

You've also had consistent support from Julian Bond, the late Coretta Scott King, California NAACP chair Alice Huffman.and other African-American leaders who see this just as I do as a civil rights issue.

We have our knuckleheads such as Bishop Harry Jackson and his sellout minister friends who are doing the dirty work of the Traditional Values Coalition as card carrying members of the Forces of Intolerance. Black GLBT people and bloggers have just as forcefully called them out as I'm doing to your soon to be shorts eating behind right now.

But as many of us continue to point out, the righteous anger you have needs to be focused on the people who were responsible for Prop 8's crafting, collecting the signatures to get it on the California ballot, financing the campaign and who voted for it.

And those people disproportionately share your ethnic heritage.

And hello, did it not occur to your vanilla flavored privileged behind that there are Black GLBT people in groups such as the National Black Justice Coalition who are busting their behinds to get marriage equality passed?.

The GL community has failed at intersectionality, cultivating and being good allies and cracking down on the racism within the GLBT family that causes discourse. It has also failed at crafting a pro marriage equality message that resonates in my community because of the lack of melanin in the GL community leadership ranks.

While I have seen some slight improvements recently on those fronts, we still have a long way to go


In addition, the constant pushing of the 'we're just like you' message and holding out affluent white gay men as the standard bearers for the community is a factor leading into why there's so much right wing pushback against GLBT rights besides the yuck factor and faith based homophobia.

The 'we're just like you' message, especially when being articulated by white gay males is interpreted by Black people in the context of our historic centuries old animosity rooted in slavery.

And I can't and won't forget as a transperson fighting for my community's civil rights that some of the people opposed to trans inclusion in the GL community, the movement we helped start, ENDA, hate crimes and other civil rights legislation over the last 40 years have been white gay males.

So when Savage's HBO television show cranks up, my television will be tuned to another channel since it's obvious he has no regard or respect for my African-American community or his Black GLBT/SGL allies.

But seriously Dan, chill with the race baiting. It's so 20th century.


Crossposted from Feministe and the Bilerico Project

Leiomy Ballroom Video

First the late Willi Ninja becomes a breakout icon from the ballroom community in the wake of the Paris Is Burning documentary along with Octavia. Then Jose Xtravaganza ends up as one of Madonna's dancers and in her Vogue video.

Isis makes the move from the ballroom floor runway competition to America's Next Top Model, and now we have Leiomy Mizrahi Maldonado making a name for herself and the Vogue Evolution dance crew she's been leading in Season 4 of America's Best Dance Crew.

Check out some of her moves from the ballroom.





And word to mainstream peeps, you may want to start checking out a ballroom competition near you. Your next runway modeling superstar or hot dancer could be honing their skills there right now.

Dan Savage, Racism Has Its Rewards

TransGriot Note: This guest post is from my Canadian homegirl Renee at Womanist Musings

Well, it seems that HBO has decided to give Dan Savage his own show, excuse me for a moment while I am reflexively ill. Dan is just the kind of edgy fauxgressive that the media loves to embrace. He does after all write about the great taboo – sex. To make matters even more appealing, he represents the type of gay White male that the media loves to portray.

He is educated and has class privilege – yup, that sums up the GLBT community and allows networks like HBO to put a checkmark beside their inclusive of all peoples box. No need to find a person of color in the GLBT community to promote, when the media can present yet another edgy White male.

There are those that believe that any representation of the GLBT community is a good thing because let’s face it, there is a lot of invisibility in prime time, however; the stylized promotion of White male equalling the GLBT community, is problematic and racist. Can you believe I dared to say it? Then we have Savage himself, the great champion of gay rights. How could he possibly be deemed a problematic choice, when he dares to speak truth to power right? Well, how about we look at this little quote:

“I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

"This will get my name scratched of the invite list of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is famous for its anti-racist-training seminars, but whatever. Finally, I’m searching for some exit poll data from California. I’ll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8.”

Anyone recall a public apology for this little racist screed? Nope, why apologize? He is White and gay, and his lefty credentials means that he can say whatever the hell he wants, without apologizing to those he may have offended. What Dan really wants is equality and we uppity Negroes ruined it for him. He is well aware that homophobia is what is stopping him from taking full advantage of his White male privilege. I know who you want equality with Dan and it is certainly not with people who look like me.

Perhaps I should forget this little commentary, the way he forgot that Coretta Scott King said, “I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King’s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.” Is she representative of Black community for you Savage?

How about Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP who stated, “There are no ‘special rights’ in America; we are all entitled to life, liberty and happiness’ pursuit. I see this as a civil rights issue. That means I support gay civil marriage.”

Then of course there is Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) who emphatically declared, “It is time to say forthrightly that government’s exclusion of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters from civil marriage officially degrades them and their families…this discrimination is wrong.”

We however are the danger to the GLBT community. No Black people have ever advocated for gay rights. Why would we, we are all to busy being thugs and harassing the GLBT community. Who would have thought that Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena (transman), and JR Warren were all murdered in cold blood by White people. Wasn’t there an African American fall guy that they could have scraped together to blame for these deaths? We are, after all, nothing but homophobic thugs right?

Savage’s commentary post Prop 8 may have been forgotten by many but to those of us who are of color, who are either same gender loving or allies to the community, it is a sting that cannot be overlooked. Savage was not openly decried by the GLBT community, in fact he was championed as a hero. Those that are White can understand why he was upset, after all, who would want to be oppressed by Blacks, when socially it is understood that Whites are supposed to be the top of the food chain.

Well, Dan need not worry about being oppressed by Blacks because HBO will be giving him his own platform, where he may wax poetic and take his place amongst the pantheon of White males. For a man that is leading a life of extreme hardship, he seems to have done quite well for himself.

Lil Mama Apologizes For Negative Comments To Leiomy

I'll admit because I have such disdain and contempt for reality TV shows, I missed Sunday's America's Best Dance Crew show on MTV in which judge Lil' Mama made disparaging comments to Leiomy Maldonado.

If you haven't heard it by now, the leader of the New York based Vogue Evolution team is a trans woman. These vets of the NY ballroom scene have been ripping it up for several weeks now in their quest to not only represent the GLBT community, but win the $100,000 grand prize as well.





Leiomy has also taken this time in the media spotlight to openly talk about being trans and has done a few interviews with Vogue Evolution about being an out and proud dance crew.

But back to the business at hand. During the August 30, 2009 episode rapper Lil Mama, one of the judges for this show, said this during a critique:

“Leiomy, come on. Your behavior…it’s unacceptable. I just feel that you always have to remember your truth. You were born a man and you are becoming a woman. If you’re going to become a woman, act like a lady. Don’t be a bird, like ‘Oh my god, I’m not doing this!’ You know what I’m saying? It gets too crazy and it gets confusing. You’re doing this for America. Even though you’re the face for transgenders, you’re the face of America right now with this group and it’s not about anybody else. It’s about y’all. You know what I’m saying? So do it for the team. Do it for the team.”

GLAAD reached out to Lil Mama and MTV after receiving numerous calls and e-mails from community members and allies regarding those comments.

GLAAD sent me an e-mail this afternoon letting me know that Lil Mama has now apologized for those comments.

Lil Mama: "I would like to clarify anything that was misunderstood from Sunday's show. My remarks were never meant to be disrespectful regarding Leiomy's  gender nor offensive to the LGBT community, which has been a community that has supported me in all my endeavors.

However, in hindsight, I recognize that my words may have come across as hurtful. I spoke with her privately after the taping to express that it was not my intent to offend her or any member of the transgender community and that I still live for Vogue Evolution."

"While we thank Lil Mama for her apology, this incident demonstrates the need for more education around the lives and experiences of transgender people. Lil Mama’s comments during her critique attempted to impose standards of conformity for gender identity and expression -- a mistake that many people make,” said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD.

“Transgender people, particularly transgender women of color, become targets of discrimination and violence when inaccuracies and acts of insult like this are advanced. Contrary to what was said on the program, as an openly transgender woman and dance contestant, Leiomy is living her truth,” Robinson continued.

“It was surprising that MTV, a network that has shown a strong commitment to fair and accurate inclusion of transgender and gay people, would choose to air a clip that includes such disrespectful comments,” said Robinson.

MTV has not yet publicly addressed the comments made by Lil Mama in the episode.

But while we're waiting for their reaction, I'm gonna have to start tuning in to America's Best Dance Crew and see if Vogue Evolution can win it all.

Diane Sawyer To Become ABC World News Anchor In 2010

And then there were two.

In some news that will make many peeps in Da Ville happy, Diane Sawyer will be leaving Good Morning America and taking over as the anchor for 'ABC World News' in January 2010.

Current anchor Charles Gibson will be retiring at the end of the year after 35 years with ABC. He took over the ABC World News anchor duties after the 2005 death of longtime anchor Peter Jennings and Bob Woodward was injured while reporting in Iraq.

White Sawyer's ascension to the ABC desk and Katie Couric already ensconsed in the legendary CBS News anchor chair that Walter Cronkite once occupied, that means in 2010 two of the three original television networks as of 2010 will have women sitting at their anchor desks.

NBC still has Brian Williams helming their rating leading NBC Nightly News, with ABC a solid second in the ratings.

No word yet as to what's going to happen with Diane's soon to be former gig at Good Morning America, where Robin Roberts is one of the co-hosts.

Maybe ABC will do the logical thing and slide Robin into the lead chair at GMA.

At any rate, congratulations to Diane Sawyer. She's from Louisville, and the peeps here are ecstatic that she's going to get the ABC News anchor chair.

That's A Man*

One of the things that hasn't been talked about yet is the devastating effects of these gender tests on the people that fail them.

Imagine that one day for whatever reason, athletic competitions, et cetera, you take a medical test that you expect will confirm what you know and have deeply felt since birth. You were raised as female, you have no doubts about your gender identity, and your body and your reflection in the mirror confirm that.

Now imagine how you would feel if the results of that gender test aren't quite what you expected.

In 1967 Ewa Klobukowska was preparing to compete in the European Cup Championships being held in Kiev. She was the co-holder of the then women's 100m world record at 11.1 seconds. She'd won a bronze in the 1964 Tokyo Games along with a relay gold medal.

Then her chromosome test came back. Because she had "one chromosome too many," she was a man*.

She was stripped of her world record, her Olympic medal and barred from international competition.

A year later it was Erika Schinegger's turn. In 1966 she'd become the World Cup skiing champion and subsequently a national shero in that skiing mad country.

Schinegger was one of the favorites to win gold at the upcoming 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France until her gender test came back with results shocking to her.

Turns out Erika was chromosomally male due to an intersex condition. That condition was missed at birth and she was raised as a girl. After discovering this information, Erika transitioned to become Erik, competed on the men's skiing tour for a few years, married in 1975 and now runs a ski school.

Spanish sprinter Maria Jose Martinez Patino arrived in Kobe, Japan, in 1985 to compete at the World University Games. She'd passed previous genetic sex-determination tests, but in this instance she'd forgotten her Certificate of Femininity and had to retake the test.

She failed it after discovering she had androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) and was a woman with 46XY chromosomes.

The failed test had devastating and humiliating consequences in Patino's life. Not only was she barred from competing for several years, she lost an athletic scholarship, watched her boyfriends walk out of her life and ultimately, the chance to compete in the 1992 Olympics being hosted in her country.

Patino lost time during her peak athletic competition years fighting to regain her eligibility. It cost her a chance to qualify for the Barcelona Games as she failed to qualify for the Spanish team by hundredths of a second.

Patino retired from athletics, picked up her PhD and is now an university professor.

Santhi Soundarajan was an up and coming runner who held the Indian national record in the 3000m steeplechase and was the 800m silver medalist at the 2005 Asian championships.

Her world as she knew it came to an end after she repeated her silver medal winning performance at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Bahrain. She underwent a gender test and failed it.

She went from being a potential medalist at the Beijing Games to being stripped of her Asian Games silver medal. Despondent over the test, she reportedly attempted suicide in September 2007. She regrouped and became a successful running coach in India.

So as South Africa's Caster Semenya and the world awaits the results of the gender test, it is with this backdrop of negative history what her potential fate will be if it comes back with a negative result. At the same time, it also lets her know that there is life after a adverse gender test.

But it points out once again that in humans, there is a extremely fine line hormonally that separates male from female.

It's past time we recognize that.

Big Sis Taken To Limit In 2009 US Open Match

The 2009 US Open started yesterday in Flushing Meadows, NY and will be running until September 13.

You know I'll be watching as my favorite tennis playing siblings battle the women's tennis world and their haters to capture another major tennis title.

While number 2 seed and defending US Open champ Little Sis opened play by cruising to a straight set 6-4, 6-1 win over Alexa Glatch, Number 3 seeded Big Sis had a rougher time.

She's probably humming Destiny's Child's Survivor after spending 2 hours and 44 minutes outlasting Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In their careers, neither Venus or Serena has ever lost in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament. But Dushevina came extremely close to knocking out Big Sis.

Venus dropped the first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker. She led 5-3 in that tiebreaker until being rattled by a foot fault call that wiped out a great serve that would have given her a 6-3 lead. She also called an 8 minute injury timeout early in the first set at 2-1 to deal with her left knee in addition to struggling with her second serve.

She found herself down 5-4 in the second set just serving to stay in the match and fell behind love-15. The number 47 world ranked Dushevina found herself just three tantalizing points away from pulling off a major upset.

But as Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich once said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." Big Sis dug deep and won the next seven games to even the match and take control of the match by building a 4-0 third set lead enroute to winning the match.

If the Williams sisters continue their winning ways, they would unfortunately meet in the semifinals of this tournament. They are on the same side of the 2009 US Open women's singles draw.

The Williams sisters last won the US Open women's doubles championship in 1999, and are seeded fourth in this tournament.

Hopefully Big Sis gets the kinks out of her service game while playing some doubles. She had ten foot faults in that match, and there are concerns about whether her left knee will hold up from the pounding its going to take from the hard court surfaces at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.

Stay tuned to find out if Little Sis makes it back to back US Open singles titles, if Big Sis finally wins a major and they capture their first US Open women's doubles championship in a decade.

When It Pertains To Transpeople, Do You Media Peeps Even Read The AP Stylebook?

One of the things I have griped about constantly since the founding of my blog in 2006 is the rampant use of incorrect pronouns by the media when it comes to writing news stories on transgender people.

Before I get started, let me point out what the AP Stylebook, the professional journalist's Bible, has to say about covering transgender people.

transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

Tyli'a looked like a woman, lived her life as one and died as one.

So with that being said, how the hell did Tyli'a Mack become a 'transgender man'?

I know where the misguided usage of this term originated. It came from our scientifically challenged 'christian' wingnuts, who refer to trans women that way in their literature and hate sites.

Newsflash for the scientifically illiterate. A transgender man (or trans man) is a person born in a FEMALE body who transition to male. A transgender woman (or trans woman) is a person born in a MALE body who transitions to female.

Tyli'a Mack is the latest edition to the pathetically long list of transwomen who have paid the ultimate price for being their true selves. About 70% of the fallen transpeople memorialized on the Remembering Our Dead list are transpeople of color.

Tyli'a was stabbed to death August 26 along with another trans person who was critically injured during a daytime incident that occurred in Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. has a long history of African descended transpeople not only being killed, but being the centers of media attention dating back to Tyra Hunter's 1995 death after a car accident..

So it's not like the Washington D.C. media isn't familiar with trans people and our issues in Chocolate City. But they, along with other media outlets around the country continue to get the pronouns wrong or horribly mangle the story because of ignorance on transgender issues, their own personal prejudices or a combination of both.

In Tyli'a Mack's case, the media got it horribly wrong.

Christine H. one of my TransGriot readers, e-mailed me August 31 with her observations about the Mack case.

"I watched the original NBC news coverage of the story and I think there's an important aspect that The Sexist left out. In addition to identifying the victims as "two transgendered men" instead of as women, NBC reported that police were investigating the possibility of the women stabbing each other in a fight. In fact, in the report that I saw, that was the only possible motive that NBC gave. It seems unlikely for two people in a fight to cause such major injuries to each other (one resulting in death, the other critically injured) and I can't imagine what gave NBC news that idea."

Nice, they're blaming the victims as well. And if what the NBC affiliate is reporting is correct, shouldn't the D.C. PD be spending their time looking for the waste of DNA who committed this hate crime?

Nope, instead the various D.C. media outlets are engaged in playing a public back and forth blame game with the DC Po-Po's because the DC transgender community is rightfully pissed about how Tyli'a Mack and the other transwoman were disrespected.

But that still doesn't take away the fact that despite clear guidelines for reporting on transgender people, the media continues to get it wrong because cisgender reporters don't ask enough of the right questions.

Maybe it's time for the media to do what they did back in the day. When they realized they needed Black reporters to cover the Civil Rights Movement and other breaking news in the Black community where White reporters couldn't go, they hired Black reporters to do so.

It's time for media outlets to hire transgender reporters to cover these issues.

Seems like it's the one way we trans people can insure that we won't face the recurrent pronoun problems. In addition, our issues and concerns will get the sensitive, respectful coverage they deserve.

Crossposted to Feministe

70th Anniversary Of Nazi Invasion Of Poland

Today marks the tragic 70th anniversary of the start of the Nazi invasion of Poland that kicked off World War II.

It lasted six years, resulted in 110 million people from 75 nations wearing the uniforms of their military, and 45 to 80 million people dying as the result of Adolf Hitler's dream to rule the planet.

Poland was first to fall to the German Blitzkrieg tactics as five German armies attacked it from three sides. The Poles fought hard, but were outgunned and outmaneuvered by the new German warfighting style.

Warsaw was surrounded by September 8 and put under siege. The Poles repulsed several German attempts to take the city, but with daily bombardment, increasing civilian casualties, dwindling food and water supplies and the invasion of the eastern half of Poland by the Soviet Union, surrendered on September 27.

Thus began Poland's long nightmare under Nazi occupation that would result in 6 million Polish dead and the bloodiest conflict that humankind has embarked on.

Guest Blogging At Feministe Until September 13

Wanted to let you loyal TransGriot readers know that my two week guest blogging stint at Feministe starts today and runs until September 13.

You can check out my initial post over there by clicking this link.

My game plan is to write a mix of posts exclusive to Feministe, some cross posts from TransGriot, and maybe a TransGriot classic or two.

But as always, the goal is to make sure it's thought provoking.

Kerry Washington-More Video

Here's more Kerry Washington video promoting Life Is Hot In Cracktown (which I have yet to see since I'm not in a major city.

Happy Birthday Caroline!

The Caroline I'm referring to in this post is one of our transgender icons. Back in the 70's and 80's she was a Bond Girl, model, author of two books, civil rights activist, a Paris showgirl and even posed for Playboy.

Today Caroline Cossey, AKA Tula is celebrating her 55th birthday.

She grew up in Britain, worked in Paris, Rome and London as a showgirl, had her SRS at 20 and became a sought after high fashion model.

But after achieving her childhood dream of being a Bond girl and appearing in the For Your Eyes Only Bond movie, she was outed by a British tabloid. It derailed her push to become an actress and temporarily sidelined her modeling career.

She fought back by releasing her first autobiography in 1982 entitled I Am A Woman

Upset about the jacked up British laws concerning the legal status of transsexuals in the wake of the Corbett v. Corbett case, in 1983 she filed suit against the British government to get the legal status of transsexuals changed.

While the legal process percolated through the British judicial system she made numerous media appearances and campaigned tirelessly for transsexual civil rights

After seven years, in 1989 her case reached the European High Courts in Strasbourg, France, where they ruled in her favor. The conservative British government promptly appealed it,

She got married in the wake of the court ruling to businessman Elias Fattal. Soon after she'd returned from her Caribbean honeymoon, the same tabloid that outed her earlier, News of the World, did so again.

During this ugly period, her marriage to Fattal was annulled, her car was sabotaged, and she received death threats. To top it all off, in 1990 she received an adverse ruling from the European Court that reversed her win from the year before.

Despite all the drama swirling around her, she released her second autobiography, My Story and resumed her modeling career.

It does end happily for her. In 1992 she met and married Canadian David Finch and has since moved to the States.

Happy birthday to Caroline Cossey, another one of our transgender icons. May you have a nice quiet stress free day down in Georgia.

I hope to one day get to meet you in person and tell you how much of an inspiration you were to me growing up.

Happy 173rd Birthday H-Town!

Happy 173rd birthday to my hometown!

It was on this day that New York entrepreneurs Augustus and John K. Allen founded the city on 6,653 acres of land near Buffalo Bayou.

They named it after Sam Houston, the hero of the Texas Revolution and the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. It briefly became the capital of the Republic of Texas from its founding until it was moved to Austin in 1839.

It is the county seat of Harris County, the largest city in Texas with 2,208,140 residents and the fourth largest in the United States.

It has a fascinating history, and I'm proud to note that African-Americans have played a major role in driving it as well.

Hopefully my hometown will be making some more history this November by electing its second woman mayor in Annise Parker.

Too bad I'm not there to celebrate it properly by heading to Frenchy's and scarfing up a Campus Special or grabbing some Shipley's Donuts.

Missing You, Michael

Today would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday, and it still seems surreal to talk about him in the past tense.

As the events of his last day begin to unravel and the stories get out, we're learning more about what led up to his untimely death.

But it still doesn't change the fact that when he was onstage, he was the King Of Pop and a first class entertainer.

But it speaks to the fact I was spoiled. I didn't realize the quality type of music I had growing up and the sheer volume of music legends that graced my teen and early adult years. I'm becoming aware of it as these peeps leave us and what we have currently pales in comparison to them.

And it's sad to realize that not only is Michael Jackson gone, there won't be another singer like him in my lifetime.

Katrina Plus Four

Today is the fourth anniversary of the devastating landfall of Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area.

I spent two years living on the West Bank and was there when Hurricane Betsy whacked the city in 1965. I still have friends and my godsister in the area.

I still find it amazing that four years later the GOP and assorted conservaidiots are still trying to have it both ways in the wake of this disaster. Eben on his way back to Texas in the waning days of his presidency Junior was trying to rewrite history and claim their response was timely.

The only timely response that came from the Bush misadministration was how many no bid contracts they could shovel at their cronies and how they could do a 'heck of a job' using this disaster for GOP political purposes.

On one hand they whine it wasn't their fault that Junior's goverment massively failed the citizens of New Orleans, it was Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin

The evidence says otherwise. Gov Blanco and Mayor Nagin did everything possible on their ends to prepare for the disaster.

It's all on you conservaboys and girls who hate government and routinely spout that 'government can't do anything right' conservaabull.

Maybe you should truthfully restate your pet phrase. It's CONSERVATIVE run governments that can't do anything right.

We still have New Orleans residents living in FEMA trailers while others were part of the largest relocation of African descended people since the Great Migration.

The area is still slowly recovering from the storm, but for many people it will never be the same as it was pre-Katrina.

Say a prayer today for the people that didn't survive the storm, and for the people in the area who are still struggling to rebuild their lives in the aftermath.