Oh dear, shirtless Harry Connick Jr. evacuating an elderly neighbor should NOT be making me tingly. I'm evil. Evil. But Godalmignty is he pumped.

And where can this be seen?

joining Trudy in evilness

It was the evening news on NBC. He was checking out his Dad's place (which was in pretty good shape) and saw an elderly neighbor lying on his porch (the neighbor's porch). HC scooped the guy up and carried him bodily over to the boat. The poor man was so frail and it looked like he might only be wearing a shirt.

Cut to the guy set up in the boat and Harry saying, with this very sort of humble and respectful tone, how they'd come across this tough old guy and were able to give him a hand.

So, strong, kind, generous and ::gah:: high-grade shirtless.

(When I get to hell I'll be sure to give Bar a good hard smack upside the head)

Did Oprah already have her fall "Let's Give the Audience Everything!" show? If not, I'd like to see her donate the items (taxes paid, unlike with the car giveaway) to Katrina survivors.

No, but she did a show today from New Orleans where she's showing a lot of dead bodies in the street and calling the response "a travesty."

Try and spin Oprah, Mr. Rove. See what ya get.

Dad was justy here to pick up his cell phone.

I thiought that maybe MAYBE this situaiton would pull him out of his Bush is doing a Fantastic job as president thing.

But no.

It's New Orleans fault. The Mayors the Gov. of Lousiana's fault. Their fault for not organizing ways to get the poor out, their fault for not asking for help soon enough.

Dad says "THe president declared an emergency" well yes, but that's not enough. You have to do something. There's supposed to be some kidn of leadership

I don't know why, but I thought Dad wouldn't be one of those people rationalizing Bush's actions.

Thanks for the hug and suggestions, Trudy!

Theodosia, your advice is wise

What part of town do you live in, quester?

aurelia, Hi! and I live 2 blocks due North of the Art Institute

Video link to Keith Olberman's absolutely scathing editorial comment on Katrina and politicians

David, I saw him deliver this. He's my secret boyfriend, you know.

Why does everybody come out to play after I go to bed?

It occured to me as I was on my way home tonight that the Bush administration has managed to turn the US into a psuedo-3rd world country. We can't settle our elections without major suspicion and turmoil and we can't take care of ourselves without help from other countries and the gap between the very rich and everybody else is widening every day.

Ditto with my dad, Askye. Before he retired at age 54 he was much more moderate and in touch with the non-retirees of the world. Now, not so much, which leads to lots of fun family arguments.

I feel your pain askye. I was at my brother's this weekend. He was furious at the press for being critical of his lord and master. Arguing that Bush ordered the mayor to evacuate his city and the mayor dropped the ball. He went on and on. I was too stunned to get into it with him. There are just a number of people that stick to the party line no matter what. My mother just doesn't know where she went wrong with him.

I hadn't heard this angle before. It's particularly shameful. From a first person account.

*************

We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched pasted the convention center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Some people feel safer believing the president is a good guy, you know? It's easier to cope if he's not the one that fucked up.

Oy. I finally got to hand off info I've been chasing for at least a month. I swear, my job doesn't require knowing anything other than a) who has the info b) how to best cajole it out of them and c) how to spin it for the people that need it.

That's not what I went to school for.

There are just a number of people that stick to the party line no matter what.

I can honestly say I've never met a single person who thinks Bush is a good leader. Honestly. Or else they just kept very quiet about it. But then, I'm from a very far away place.

If it makes you feel better, there was a rather contentious political issue over here a while back, and a friend of my parents was spouting some rather right-wing rhetoric about it at a dinner party. I finally snapped and told her exactly why I thought she was wrong and she stormed out. And hasn't spoken to my parents since. We don't mention it. So if you're still talking to your family, you're doing better than I am.