Cleaning this out is not so easy.  I have to do one at a time.

I'll do it some other time.

Sorry, people.  Haven't used this in many years.  I am removing everything.  I may begin using it again soon.  For now, I need to clear it.

Thank you to LJ, however, for telling me there is no way for the headaches.  I lost my password (I didn't use it in years), and the only associated email address was my school address (I graduated in 06).  They insisted there is NO way to retrieve a password, except with the associated email address.  They insisted there is NO way to reset a password, except with the associated email address.  You get the point.  After many months of attempts (several dozen each time), I finally guessed the password and got in.

LJ has no customer service whatsoever.  I can very easily prove I am the owner of this account, but they could care less.

As we are all tragically learning from the news, the billions of dollars of damage (typical in natural disasters) pales in comparison with the unprecedented human toll. Not only are hundreds of thousands of people homeless and displaced, but there are hundreds upon hundreds dying. People have no food, shelter, fresh water, or medicine. They are sleeping amongst rotting corpses and violent mobs who loot, rape, and murder. There is complete chaos and lawlessness.

While the hurricane is certainly no one's fault, why aren't we, 4 years after 9/11 prepared for such an event? Isn't the Department of Homeland Security supposed to have elaborate evacuation plans for all major cities? Didn't they assure us we have unbreakable communications and supply networks? Weren't we told that food, shelter, fresh water, medicine, and security would be provided for us in an emergency?

This is the greatest tragedy in our nation's history. Who knows if New Orleans will ever truly recover. Sadly, the nation is not giving this issue the same attention it would if those stuck behind were the upper and middle class. But since they are almost entirely poor, black people, we can go about our lives as usual and just say, "Isn't that sad?"

These tragic events should not only remind us of the frailty of life, but the absurd unpreparedness our nation still endures under President Bush. Just imagine if this was not the result of a hurricane, but of something far worse.

I think it is high time that we have contigency plans for evacuating every major city. Nothing will work seemlessly, but we can at least have some preparation in place. Heck, we have contigency plans for any kind of military event (including a war with Great Britain). Why didn't we have a plan for evacuating a sub-sealevel city in the Gulf Coast?

I have very little say on the issue only because a lot is already being said. What I do have to interject is:

1. I think this scandal has the potential to go a LOT deeper and become a LOT more serious. (How did Karl Rove know this top-secret classified information when at the time he was a political advisor and not a government official?)

2. The polls that 75% of people think Rove should be fired while only 15% think he should stay are quite encouraging in a conservative-dominated country. Then again, they claim to stand for integrity. Washington insiders (GOPs especially) aren't taking this as seriously as the American public is - much like Watergate.

3. This makes the President look horrible and weak. He vowed to fire whoever leaked the information. Now he is backing away from it. He looks like a spineless flip-flopper who really IS a puppet for Karl Rove. This entire thing is scaring me (the fact Bush is standing by him), and I have never been a Bush fan. Karl Rove failed on the Social Security debate, the Filibuster debate, the Terri Schiavo debate, etc. Those were all his workings. That was already 3 strikes. Why is the President keeping his top political advisor now that he has released the name of a covert CIA operative for political gain? Something doesn't set right, even for a stubborn President. I am very uncomfortable with it. In not firing Rumsfeld, he looks stupid. This looks suspicious.

4. The Democrats have the opportunity to exploit this if they play it right and gain strong advantage. However, Republicans are destroying them on the media-spin campaign. I have no idea how, but they are. Even though the polls are in our favor, they are containing tempers to a simmer rather than a boiling outrage. More importantly, they are running every distraction technique (the technicality that it was a _former_ agent and not a current agent, attacks on Wilson personally, claims the Democrats are doing this as a political witch hunt and are ignoring real issues affecting our nation, etc.) and succeeding!

Well, it looks like my long-time dream of doing Birthright Israel will not come to fruition. The age limit is 26, and I turn 27 in September. My previous plans to go had fallen through for various reasons. Now that I can finally go this Winter, I miss the age deadline by 2 months. I wrote them, but they said they cannot make exceptions. I am quite disappointed.

Birthright Israel is a program that sends young-adult Jews (18-26) to Israel, all expenses paid (airfare, food, lodging, everything) on a full-service tour for 10 days, if they have never been on a youth trip before. I have never heard of anyone not absolutely loving it. And it is worth about $10,000.

Not only will I be unable to come up with $10,000 anytime in the foreseeable future (maybe in 10 years, at best!), but I could never do the youth-tour. I would miss out on the camaradarie, which is a large part of it.

I had been looking forward to it for years. I am very disappointed.

Not only am I missing out on staying in touch with friends, but losing critical information as well. (Very belated responses to financial aid inquiries, missed modeling job opportunities, etc.) No matter how many people I tell that I don't have regular access, there are always a littany of important emails I am late in reponding to. I feel like a schmo.

Also, a shitload of my emails on AOL expired. Hopefully, none of them were too vital.

I just can't wait to get back to regular email, AIM, LJ, MySpace, Friendster, Tribe, etc. Basically, being in the 21st Century.

You know, internet access has now been classified as an "essential service" in many cities, requiring the government to provide affordable and widespread access to all its citizens. Water, gas, electricity, sewage, phone, internet.

Most of the blog posts I have outlined have been rendered obsolete, but I will hopefully someday be current again.

Until then, I am hundreds of emails back (plus unresponded MySpace, Friendster, Tribe, etc. messages).

To briefly update on the stalker incident (and hopefully address the several questions en masse):

After a lot of back-and-forth, the independent internet watchdog organization, www.truste.com, said that they only consider it a privacy violation if "personally identifiable information" is compromised. Apparently, someone's full name and email address are not "personally identifiable". They also said they found no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Ironically, MySpace contacted me the following day to tell me that their own investigation found there was, in fact, a major violation. They apologized profusely and said they have located the tracking software and will prosecute the author of it. (They also said they would punish the person who used it, but nothing appears to have happened as of yet.) Finally, they insist that no one at MySpace or affiliated with MySpace had anything to do with it. Somehow, I doubt it.

Because of my sickness, I really don't have the energy to fight much more right now, but I haven't forgotten it. At least I have some solace in knowing they are aware of the problem. Sadly, truste.com is trying to take much of the credit.

-D

P.S. The stalker herself has not contacted me since. I think she learned her lesson.

Everyone, I am suffering from tonsilitis. I will not be able to have them removed immediately, but they are quite a nuissance and keep me from wanting to post (or do much of anything else) in the meantime.

I know you are stalking me too, 159.121.166.99, so you can stop.

I am going to update my links and my friends list (I will contact anyone before removing them), and may change the style. Any recommendations are welcome.