Pugalicious!

"I like dogs better [than people]. They give you unconditional love. They either lick your face or bite you, but you always know where they're coming from. With people, you never know which ones will bite. The difference between dogs and men is that you know where dogs sleep at night."

--Gay, HIV-positive Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

My boss gave me four days off over the Labor Day weekend. I've had very little sleep this week, overcome with emotion over the after effects of Hurricane Katrina. This has to be a weekend of rest, relaxation; playing with the PUGS, and spending time with my friends. I AM EMOTIONALLY BLOGGED OUT!

Saturday evening, I plan on going out for a few much needed Gin and Tonics with a side of Apple Pucker Schnapps. That should change my mood, if even for a little while. Who knows, I might just meet someone interesting.

Sunday is Barbecue at the Pro Shop Pub accompanied by very spicy and hot Bloody Mary's.

Sunday will also be "spa" day for the PUGS which will include baths, manicures, and overall hugs and puppy licks, and of course bacon and eggs for breakfast!

I'm also going shopping and out to lunch and might even spend a "few minutes" cleaning this place and maybe do a little laundry!

The photo above is not me. My ass hasn't looked that good for several years. The Pug is not mine but it looks a lot like my Muggs.

I can't claim the rights to the photo. I've seen it on several blogs and want to share it with my friends who know I'm PUGGG~ADDICTED!

One at a time.....

A flicker of hope, a little bit of good news! My friend Earl, whose brother resides in the French Quarter area of New Orleans and who at first had refused to evacuate; arrived safely in Florida with his wife, 8 year old daughter, two dogs and one cat yesterday morning at 6:00 A.M. What an amazing difference this has made to Earl. Still missing are my friend Cindy's elderly aunt and uncle but Cindy's husband and a friend left for New Orleans today in attempts to locate and bring them to Florida.

Labor Day Weekend!

The Results so far are Unacceptable!

Friday morning and the first day of my four day holiday weekend. As we do every weekend, its bacon and eggs all around this morning (all around meaning my two pug dogs and I), but as I cook I'm overcome with an overwhelming sense of guilt. We're not only eating; my dogs are eating better than the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
These are my plans so far:

#1. Send money to the American Red Cross (done)
#2. Telephone the Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross and volunteer to go to
New Orleans as soon as feasible.
#3. Offer my home to my friend Carlo and his mother and bring them here if/when they are
found.
#4. Contact the Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) to SEND MONEY and possibly adopt an abandoned dog or cat. (courtesy of Connie)
#5. Send more money to the American Red Cross.

It is now five days since this devastation hit the Gulf states. President Bush is finally (amidst justifyiably mounting criticism) going to visit.
I am listening to President Bush as he prepares to depart the White House. Twice, he emphasized "long term planning". Mr. Bush also stated that the results so far are "unacceptable".

For the first time since Mr. Bush was elected into office, I finally agree with something he said. "The results so far are unacceptable". And why would that be, President Bush?
"long term planning"....... what about NOW, President Bush?

Have you ever been hungry, thirsty, in need of medical attention, Mr. Bush? Human lives are measured in seconds, minutes, hours. Hunger, thirst, disease and pain are now.

At 4 PM on Thursday afternoon, September 1, The Associated Press reports that fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy.

Anger mounted across the ruined city, with thousands of storm victims increasingly hungry, desperate and tired of waiting for buses to take them out. The storm passed five days ago. Five days ago. Five days of hunger, thirst, rotting flesh, broken bones, starving babies, shattered lives and an indifferent President.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help, " the Reverend Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing--no food, no water, no medicine.

Yes, the president is going to visit the Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina today but according to CBS news, he has no plans to visit the New Orleans area. I wonder why?

I'm ENRAGED again tonite!

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly:


Published: August 31, 2005 4:19 PM ET
NEW YORK President George W. Bush returned to Washington, D.C. this afternoon from his vacation in Texas, with Air Force One flying over the Gulf Coast for a look at the massive hurricane damage.

Reporters on board also got a glimpse, and afterward asked Press Secretary Scott McClellan to describe the reaction of the president, who has been accused by some of responding too slowly to the crisis.

"We got into some of the neighborhoods that were really devastated, and you could see the water all the way up to the roofs."

The President, when we were passing over that part of New Orleans, said, "It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."

EXCUSE ME? Lives lost, homes destroyed, people are in need of food, water, medication. Mr. President, from the comfort of Air Force One, you have no clue what "doubly devastating" is!

We will remind you of this Mr. President!

In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.

A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken.

The Bush administration cut funding by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.

Excuse me while I roll over and play dead!