Albany, NY -- Green Day Concert
I don't have time for much news right now, it's late and I just back from Hartford, where I saw Green Day for the third time on their American Idiot tour. Now, American Idiot is one hell of an album (remind me to publish my list of top 20 albums of all time), and musically, the tour has produced some great shows, but I found myself a bit sick of Billie Joe (the lead singer) himself by the end of this show. He's something like 33 now, and he's trying really, really hard to remain badass, to comic effect. Tonight, he simulated a pretty long, drawn-out orgasm with his hand down his pants in the middle of Hitchin' a Ride, and it was disturbing. If you're still badass and you're over 30, it shouldn't be because you're trying. If it doesn't come naturally, don't force it, or it's, well, sad. ESPECIALLY when your audience has transformed from disillusioned punk types to 40 year olds with their teenybopper children. I LOVED Green Day in October 2004; I'm not sure I'll still love them in October 2005. By the way, when did cell phones supplant lighters as the illumination of choice during ballads?
I'll do a roundup of the news from the last couple of days in the morning; for now, the massively incompetent head of FEMA, Michael Brown,
has been recalled back to Washington and taken off of the relief efforts. But perhaps the loss of life in this crisis
wasn't as bad as originally thought? We'll see.
Simpsons Season 6 DVD Podcast
Eh, I'd rather rant than give you news tonight, so that's what I'm going to do. Here's a new podcast for you to enjoy.
By the way, if you listen to that one and then to the others I've done to date, doesn't it seem like my radio voice is improving?
Albany, NY -- No Nano
Dammit.... I went to the Apple Store right when it opened this AM and they hadn't gotten in their shipment of the iPod Nanos, but said they expected them during the say and would call me once they had them. I called them this afternoon, and now they say they're not going to have them until tomorrow. Well, I'm in Boston tomorrow, so that's not gonna help me! Rats...
$2,000 would buy the poor victims of Katrina lots of iPod Nanos, but, oops... only if they're livin' at the Astrodome. A lack of iPod Nanos is just one reason that Katrina victims are seriously pissed off at FEMA.
Albany, NY -- Nano!
Must have must have must have must have...
I'm goin' to the mall today...
Albany, NY -- Agassi vs. Blake
Got the SHTML thing down, just one quick thing before I retire for the night.
I rarely watch tennis on TV; it's been at least five years since I last watched any part of a match and when I watched the last one, it'd probably been five years since the one before. But, tonight was one for the ages,
Andre Agassi vs. James Blake in the U.S. Open semis. I was on total pins and needles throughout the fifth-set tiebreaker (which I learned can only occur in the U.S. Open, none of the other majors)... and Agassi prevailed. Remember his sneaks in like 1990? I wanted a pair of those so badly, and never got 'em.
Short post right now; I've taken on a short notice volunteer project that's necessitated me learning SHTML in a hurry.
A lot of talk today about the frantic cleanup efforts going on... no, not saving lives, but
saving the President's approval ratings.
Fire crews are
being recruited to pass out fliers for FEMA, rather than fight the fires burning all over New Orleans. FEMA
has banned photography of the dead in this disaster, just like in Iraq. Meanwhile, Bush's
eerie level of detachment is caught on video.
Jon Stewart, having been on vacation (like the President!) for a week, finally got a
chance to weigh in on the hurricane.
Another Bush administration official resigns
due to the adminstration's appalling disregard for science.
And a little humor
about the Roberts confirmation hearings.
Labels: Katrina, Supreme Court
Albany, NY -- My Brush With the Government
The White House is trying to do something to assist the students in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, so who do they turn to?
ME! Well, sorta. My boss, Paul, is also the President of the United States Distance Learning Association, and they've been asked by the U.S. Department of Education to submit proposals tomorrow to Margaret Spellings, the President's Education Secretary. So, Paul asked his trusty staff today for some ideas, and I sent an eight point plan of my own, and as it turns out, it will be one of the ones that the USDLA presents tomorrow! Cool, huh?
Bill Clinton speaks out about our federal government's failure in dealing with the effects of the hurricane. And, gee, Barbara Bush seems to think it's a success, I mean, the people are poor, so it's an upgrade for them to sleep on cots by the thousands, right? Who's with me here?
Labels: Katrina
Albany, NY -- EU Gives Up On Iran
Breaking news:
EU gives up on IranLabels: Iran
Albany, NY -- Selling Out
Just a quick post from work. The going rate for gas here today seems to be exactly $3.29 per gallon... it hasn't really dropped off much yet.
The LA Times explains why FEMA was MIA in the early stages of the Katrina disaster.
Those silly Massachusetts liberals are going to house 2,500 Katrina refugees on Cape Cod. Maybe they can hang out with the gay midget cops in Provincetown...
And, look up! I finally sold out; I'm hoping to net at least 11 cents a month from Google's Adwords, so click click click! :)
Labels: Katrina
Albany, NY -- Cablemonkey's Update
More from CableMonkey in Louisiana:
Gas prices at the local Pilot station was at $2.999 Saturday evening. I drove up there a few minutes ago and noticed that its now $2.599. The highest I saw at that station was $3.099, which was the middle of last week. Definitely some good news there. Also, many gas stations have gas again, and the lines are pretty much gone. We still have a little more traffic at the stations, but what do you expect from an area whose population jumped up due to the evacuees.I made a quick trip by the school board office on the way home. Last Thursday, Governor Blanco ordered 14 of our buses to go to New Orleans. This caused the school system not to be able to get many of students to school; therefore, schools in my district and the district to our north (who also got ordered) cancelled classes on Friday. The buses have made it back, so morning bus routes will be as they should be. The superintendent had already declared that schools would be open on Tuesday whether or not the buses had made it back with possible bus route modifications.From my perspective, everything here is back to normal minus the "short"-term population increase.The Financial Times affirms some of what CM has to say;
oil prices are apparently dropping. Ari told me that he saw $3.19 for a gallon of regular at nearly every gas station on his way back to Binghamton today from Roanoke, VA, and that they're still at $3.39 in Binghamton. I haven't been out of the house today, so I haven't seen prices in Albany, but was just told that they're hanging around $3.40. Didn't hit the $4.00 mark that I predicted, and maybe we'll be down to $2.80 or so this week. Then again, maybe not.
Bush and Blanco, who have been blaming each other for the failed relief efforts, are
clearly not getting along. Newsbusters, a blog I hadn't seen before, reports that
Mayor Nagin blames the Governor. Dennis Byrne at the Free Republic wonders why
we must always blame someone.
Interdictor shows us
the face of New Orleans.
Some reasons for geneticists
to be a bit more careful when developing stem cells.
Labels: George Bush, Katrina
Albany, NY -- The Levees are Fixed
Something important we missed while we were paying attention to Katrina.
Dennis Roddy links Bush's handling of Katrina with his handling of Iraq.
Many people still refuse to leave New Orleans, and the mayor coldly decrees that police officers will no longer hand out water to those who remain. Forced physical evacuations are OK, but you can't deny the people water. The mayor also mentions that nearly 10,000 people could be dead in New Orleans, but the levees are finally fixed.
Massachusetts state government will no longer keep Microsoft Office file formats as standard, opting instead for OpenDocument. As far as I know, this is unprecedented.
Just as Jerry Rice, one San Francisco legend, departs his sport, another is ready to return, with his team 5 1/2 games out and a month to go. If he's even 60%, you have to like their chances.
Labels: Katrina, Sports, Technology
Albany, NY -- Farewell, #80
Blame for the
mishandling of the relief efforts is flying:
Bush is trying to undo what many Republicans described as considerable damage to the White House inflicted by Bush's crisis management. "Almost every Republican I have spoken with is disappointed" in Bush's performance, said William Kristol, a conservative columnist with close White House ties. "He is a strong president . . . but he has never really focused on the importance of good execution. I think that is true in many parts of his presidency."Andrew Sullivan,
Paul Krugman, and
Bob Herbert blame the administration. The Conservative Voice
blames our godlessness.
Meanwhile,
Mary Landrieu "counterpunches," and CNN
compares the rhetoric with the events on the ground. The BBC wonders
whether Katrina has saved the media.
I have to admit, as a Democrat, at the beginning of the hurricane, I thought to some extent, "Crap -- this is when Bush is going to shine; he's very good at rallying the troops around this sort of event, as we saw in 2001." I remember rooting for Bush and being rather proud of the way he was handling 9/11; no matter what the facts have turned out to be, you can't argue that the Republicans put on a really confident and inspiring show for the first days, weeks, and months afterwards. I can't feel the same way here. I'm watching Bush, Chertoff, and Brown lately and feeling really ashamed. Their actions over the last week have simply been the antithesis of "coming through." I'm not reveling in it, I'm really pretty sad about it... there are other areas where I don't mind laughing at the Bushies, but this is not one of those.
It's not a matter of big government or small government -- it's about the RIGHT government! The one we have in place is indubitably the wrong one.
And Jerry Rice, the greatest ever,
finally calls it quits. "Rice will close his career with 38 NFL records, including those for career receptions (1,549), yards receiving (22,895) and touchdowns receiving (197)." He'll be missed!I'm listening to the
Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions... how great is Traveling Riverside Blues?
Labels: George Bush, Katrina, Sports, Supreme Court
Albany, NY -- Chief Justice Roberts?
Bush raises the stakes a notch...
Roberts nominated for Chief Justice.
Labels: Supreme Court
Albany, NY -- Who Needs Expertise?
If you don't know much about the career of Judge Rehnquist, the LA times has a pretty good bio piece on him.
Some ex-FEMA officials say that FEMA hasn't handled Katrina very well. Sour grapes, maybe, but remember that under Clinton, people at FEMA were hired for their disaster expertise, not for ideology.
Labels: Katrina, Supreme Court
Albany, NY -- Gas Prices Podcast
Here's a weekend treat -- you get to hear the sound of my voice! I've done another podcast, this time on the elevated price of gasoline. Click here for a listen.
And then, click here and tell me what you think.
With the passing of Judge Rehnquist, a new angle arises on the confirmation of Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court, and the NYTimes has a list of questions Congress should ask of him.
Hooooo boy... God is at it again!
I'm spending perhaps the last warm Saturday night of the year doing one of my favorite things... hanging around in my room with the window open, the ceiling fan on, and all-night jazz on NPR. I am SO going to miss summer.
Labels: Audio, Supreme Court
