Katrina, Two Years On August 29, 2007
Posted by fitsnews in : US Politics , 2 comments
GULF COAST STILL STRUGGLING TO ITS FEET, GOVERNMENT STILL STRUGGLING WITH EXCUSES
FITSNews - August 29, 2007 - Two disasters befell the Gulf Coast of the United States beginning on August 29, 2005. The first was powerful Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into New Orleans like a freight train causing $80 billion in damage and nearly two thousand fatalities. The second was a slow, discombobulated and woefully inefficient government response that prolonged the agony and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars in the process.
While companies like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, FedEx, Cingular and others quickly found ways to get help where it was needed the most, government bumbled, stumbled and fumbled at every turn, handing out millions in aid to people who had suffered nothing while subjecting refugees who had lost everything to a seemingly impenetrable thicket of red tape. In his book The Politics of Disaster, author Marvin Olasky writes:
Businesses typically respond better than government in crisis situations because successful executives are used to taking risks … government officials tend to wait for a broad consensus to emerge. Companies tend to emphasize specific results rather than vague ideas of social welfare. They also tend to offer powerful incentives and punishments for failure that government jobs with their greater security rarely match.
We had the opportunity to visit New Orleans in March of this year, and while the city center has been almost completely restored, the surrounding suburbs still resemble a vast nuclear wasteland. For literally dozens of miles, tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain blasted out and completely uninhabitable. (more…)
Senator Says He’s Not Gay
Posted by fitsnews in : US Politics , 4 comments
PREVIOUS ALLEGATIONS COMING TO LIGHT NONETHELESS
FITSNews - August 29, 2007 - On the same day U.S. Sen. Larry Craig was busy denying his alleged gayness, accusations of prior sexual misconduct began surfacing that could paint a vastly different picture of the Idaho Republican. According to reports, Craig has been accused of making inappropriate homosexual advances on at least three separate occasions prior to his now infamous Minnesota bathroom arrest, including one alleged incident in Washington D.C. in 2004:
A 40-year-old professional man with close ties to Republican officials reported having oral sex with Craig in a restroom at Washington’s Union Station.
Frankly, we could care less if Sen. Craig is a homosexual or not. To each their own, we say. What’s peaking our curiosity at the moment is that big crap-looking thing he’s holding in the picture above. Seriously, what the hell is that?
Just A Game?
Posted by fitsnews in : Sports , 7 comments
SCETV DOCUMENTARY TO EXPLORE SOUTHEAST’S MOST INTENSE FOOTBALL RIVALRY
FITSNews - August 29, 2007 - With college football season finally upon us, we figured now was as good a time as any to preview an upcoming SCETV documentary about the South Carolina-Clemson football rivalry that has us especially excited. Entitled “Just A Game,” the one-hour film will explore not only on the teams competing on the field, but will also provide an up-close look at the legions of diehard fans and assess the profound impact the rivalry has on the fabric of our state.
In case anybody’s forgotten, South Carolina rallied from a 28-14 second-half deficit last year to defeat the Tigers 31-28 in Death Valley. The Gamecocks then went on to trounce Conference USA Champion Houston in the Liberty Bowl, while Clemson lost to SEC doormat Kentucky in its bowl game. Again, just in case anybody’s forgotten.
Anyway, according to the network, the program will be broadcast statewide as part of ETV’s Carolina Stories series the night before the Carolina-Clemson game on Friday, November 23. An encore presentation will follow on Saturday afternoon before the game and an updated version of the show, including game day footage, will air the following week.
We even hear SCETV camera crews will be interviewing fans at Carolina and Clemson home games this year, including Saturday’s Gamecock season-opener against Louisiana-Lafayette.
UPDATE - Check out this press release from SCETV. Casting call, football fans!
Fartknockers Grab Early Playoff Lead August 28, 2007
Posted by fitsnews in : Sports , add a comment
SANTINI SEMIFINALS GOOD TO SIC WILLIE … SO FAR
FITSNews - August 28, 2007 - Backed by the blistering bat of top MVP contender Magglio Ordonez, the FITS’ Fartknockers have jumped out to an early lead in the semifinal round of the Great Santini League fantasy baseball playoffs.
In other news that most of you will probably skip over, a loyal FITSNews‘ reader today presented Sic Willie with perhaps the greatest gift he has ever received - an official Cole Hamels bobblehead figurine straight from Citizens Bank Park in the City of Brotherly Love.
Grown men get excited over tiny clay dolls with wobbly heads? You better believe it, people.
Beauty Queen Brilliance, Take Two
Posted by fitsnews in : Good Stuff , 8 comments
MISS TEEN SC TAKES ANOTHER STAB AT THE BURNING ISSUES OF THE DAY
FITSNews - August 28, 2007 - So we finally sprung for the digital cable hookup here at the FITSNews home office, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. That’s because this morning on the Today show, Miss Teen SC Caitlin Upton tried a second time to explain why so many American kids can’t find their own country on a map. In case you missed her first attempt at unlocking this “riddle of the ages,” Upton very well may have provided concrete evidence about a sophisticated Iraqi-South African-Asian “map-stealing” conspiracy. Then again for all we know she may have been ordering some nachos. Or speaking in a pretend language that only she and her stuffed animals can understand. Anyway, here’s Caitlin Upton, take two:
I would love to re-answer that question. Well personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography …. (Concerning her first answer) Everything did come at me at once. I was overwhelmed and I made a mistake. Everybody makes a mistake. I’m human. I seriously think I only heard about one or two words of the actual question.
For the record, we’re sticking with the theory that Caitlin has unearthed one of the biggest conspiracies of our time.
In fact, we’re 99.9% sure the government made her go on the Today show and forced her to read all that “emphasis on geography” crap off the teleprompter. (more…)
A Billion Dollars Later, S.C. SAT Scores Still Suck
Posted by fitsnews in : SC Politics , 9 comments
STATE RANKS 49TH IN LATEST COLLEGE BOARD RESULTS
FITSNews - August 28, 2007 - After legislators pumped another billion dollars into South Carolina’s public schools over the last four years (much of it on SAT preparation), our state’s SAT scores are still on the decline. This year, South Carolina was ranked 49th in the nation - marking like the 1,000th consecutive year we’ve ranked either last or next-to-last in this critical measure of academic readiness. Of course if you ask S.C. Superintendent of Education Jim Rex, the solution is (surprise!) more money and more government programs:
As an incentive to get more students to take the courses recommended by the two exams, Rex suggested the possibility of having the state pay SAT and ACT testing fees for those students.
Uhhh … dude, we just gave you idiots another billion dollars. WTF? (more…)
U.S. Senator Pleads Guilty To Disorderly Restroom Conduct
Posted by fitsnews in : US Politics , 5 comments
IDAHO REPUBLICAN WAS SERVING AS ROMNEY’S NATIONAL CO-CHAIRMAN
FITSNews - August 28, 2007 - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, one of the biggest “family values” Republicans in all of Washington, D.C., is reported to have pled guilty earlier this month to disorderly conduct charges stemming from a June arrest in a men’s restroom at a Minnesota airport. Craig, who is up for reelection next year, was serving as national co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign until news of his arrest broke yesterday:
According to the police report, Craig entered a bathroom stall next to the police investigator, placed his bag against the front of the door and tapped his foot in a gesture commonly used to try to pick up men in public toilets … “I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct,” the investigator said.
Umm … forgive us for having completely non-existent “gay-dar,” but since when did tapping one’s foot in the bathroom become a universal homosexual mating call? Seriously, what if somebody was just grooving to their iPod, or was deaf and in need of some toilet paper? (more…)
