God Does Not Play Dice With The Universe...

So said Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955).

But it seems God's son might, at least in Ireland.

The boookmaker, Paddy Power, has created a poster that Father Michael MacGreil, the priest at St. Francis Xavier's Church in Dublin calls "grossly inappropriate and vulgar."

The advertisement is a recreation of da Vinci's Last Supper, which shows Jesus with a stack of poker chips, Judas with 30 pieces of silver and the apostles holding playing cards and playing roulette. The tag line is : There's A Place For Fun and Games.

Test Your Ethics

I received two surprise packages from Scout today, and was seriously overcome with her thoughtfulness and generousity. But the gift was so over-the-top that it made me feel pretty uncomfortable and I couldn't really accept it.

So I called her to tell her it arrived, and that I was, to put it mildly, overwhelmed. She didn't quite follow me. I told her an espresso machine was just too much.

She didn't send me an espresso machine. She sent me a Cuisinart coffeemaker to make a to-go cup at a time, and from Illy, as a nice added touch, some ground coffee.

Well, the folks at Illy did send the coffee.

AND, a red Francis Francis X5 $650 espresso machine.

Scout was not charged for the machine. It was purely a warehouse shipping error.

Audience participation: Do you

a. reap the fruit of other's incompetence and make yourself a celebratory cappucino
b. call Illy and alert them to the error so they can send Fed Ex back to pick it up
c. sell it on EBay, make a profit and treat yourself to something nice
d. return it to a retailer for store credit
e. call Illy and tell them you ordered a BLACK ONE For God's Sake and make them exchange it
f. other - write me an essay

Thank you for your time.

A Banner Day For Science

For the first time ever, scientists have captured an image of a living giant squid (Architeuthis)!

The intrepid team (Tsunemi Kubodera and Kyoichi Mori) got the pix of the 25 foot long beast off the coast of Japan's Bonin Islands at a depth of 2,950 feet.

"Contrary to belief that the giant squid is relatively inactive, the squid we captured on film actively used its enormous tentacles to go after prey. It went after some bait that we had on the end of the camera and became stuck, and left behind a tentacle six meters long, " Mori said.

I mean, okay, it's not like getting an 8 x 10 glossy of Nessie, but still...

Long Distance Birthday Dedication

Here's to you, Penpal! And your friends Nick, Nora and Asta.

I hope you have a great celebration out at the "ranch", and beware of all things fra-jill-lay.

Downfall aka Der Untergang

I finally got to see the acclaimed 2004 film, Downfall, by Oliver Hirschbiegel today.

The film chronicles the last desperate days of April 1945 in Adolf Hitler's underground bunker, as the Red army close in. It is a meticulously researched inside view where you become privy to mysterious secrets, a clawing claustrophobia and the inevitable monumental unraveling.

Who will stay and face their doom?
Who will turn and run?
Who will gain insight?
Who will hang onto their delusions until the bitter end?

Hitler, in an amazing performance by Bruno Ganz, vacillates between a scorched-earth fatalism and grandiose visions of a never-to-be realized future, blaming everyone around him for his own collapse. Ganz portrays true madness, not movie villain madness. His range covers deep psychological dysfunctions, fatherly kindness, heartlessness, love, and all-encompassing rants against generals, Jews and the German people:

" If the war is lost, it is immaterial if the German people survive. I will shed not one tear for them."

It was his war, and they had let him down, he screams: betrayed him, lied to him, turned traitor.

For me the penultimate horrifying moment, more so than the underplayed suicide of Hitler and Eva Braun, was the tenderness with which Hitler poisons his dog, Blondi.

And then, the ultimate horror, which was unnerving and unimaginable and creates a lingering queasiness long after the film ends: The purest - which is to say the most pathological - expression of fidelity to the cause comes from Magda Goebbels (Corinna Harfouch). After serving up doses of a sleeping draught to her six children, she waits for them to fall asleep and then places a cyandide ampule gently into their mouths and presses their jaws firmly shut with a audible crunch as the cyanide is released. Following the children's death, she calmly plays a game of (perhaps symbolic) solitaire, then steps outside with her husband Joseph (Ulrich Matthes) who, with a linging gaze, shots her, then turns the pistol on himself.

I spent two weeks in one of my graduate classes studying theatre of the Holocaust (plays about it, and plays performed during it), and it was one of the most moving periods of my scholarly career. For the first time, all of the students were actively engaged, passionate, and had something to say. We were all assigned a "character" from the Nazi lineup, so when we ran across that individual as a character, or historically, we would have a "go-to" expert in the room. I was assigned Rudolf Hess, who is no where to be seen is this film. I bring this up because I have had a lot background to know who all of the players are in the film. The director does not succumb to filmic conceits such as teletype place names and dates scrolling on the screen, nor are the characters names announced. My point being that a good knowledge of the participants will make the unfolding a bit richer. I think, however, that even if you are not sure who these people are, you will still be very affected by the unfolding drama.

And just when you think all of the disturbing images have ended, during the credit roll, we are shown the brief biographies of many of the individuals from the bunker. Many of them lived a long life, certainly much longer than their victims.

Let Roger Ebert summarize:

All we can learn from a film like this is that millions of people can be led, and millions more killed, by madness leashed to racism and the barbaric instincts of tribalism.

The Return of Civilization

How happy was I to hear some good news for once regarding the situation down south.

The STARBUCK's in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in the French Quarter re-opened this morning.

"I have no control over my house or my car, but I have control over my drink," one hurricane victim said.

I Didn't See That Coming

Astounding compliments to me today from far away. The kind that make you feel like you and your life have mattered, that you've touched someone else's life...that you are important. It truly is a gift.

And, as proof of this inexplicable connection, Scout also watched Downfall the other night... strange, strange, strange.

New Music Tuesday - Lost & Found & Guilty

Two gals today - well, two and half if you count Barry Gibb I suppose...

First up is Judith Owen, from last Saturday's show at Playhouse Sqaure. The CD is Lost & Found, and it features the two songs she performed at the show. The "hit", Train Out Of Hollywood, features the wonderful Keb'Mo on guitar, which is a nice inclusion.

The other CD I need to acknowledge is Guilty Pleasures, the newest collaboration between Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb. A follow-up to the wildly successful Guilty (Barbra's number one selling album) this one pays homage to the cover by dressing the pair in black instead of white. Someone really should have done something about the effect time has had on Barry's hair. It's extremely unattractive.

I popped for the DualDisc, of course, being taken in with the promise of DVD video of the songs - well, they are not "videos", they are re-creations of recording the songs. And there is a lot of fawning talk. Barbra looks wonderful, to be sure, but the whole package is less than thrilling. (you can check out a video clip at the Amazon site)

My review? They might still be guilty, but there is minimal pleasure.

Dream Sequence

So, I have come down with a nasty flu/cold/plague and have prescribed myself some couch time. While I drifted in and out of a Nyquil haze, I caught the opening of the new Martha Stewart show.

For her theme song, Martha has chosen Swing Out Sister's Am I The Same Girl.

Corinne is giving Maria Muldaur a run for the money for the most ubiquitous performance of the year...

Now, what is perplexing me is Martha's show was a theme show, in which the entire audience was comprised of people named Martha Stewart. Then there was a bit with unique married people ( Jimmy Stewart and his wife Martha).

This concept, and a Swing Out Sister theme song makes me think it was all a Nyquil-induced dream sequence...

Reruns Never Eclipse A Riveting New Show

Today's reading is from Frank Rich at the Times, Message: I Care About the Black Folks . Again, the article in its entirety is required reading, but here are some of the best points:

Addressing what Rich terms Rovian Stagecraft (a chapter I missed in my theatre history courses) : The administration's priority of image over substance is no longer working...

Once Toto parts the curtain, the Wizard of Oz can never be the wizard again. He is forever Professor Marvel, blowhard and snake-oil salesman. Hurricane Katrina, which is likely to endure in the American psyche as long as L. Frank Baum's mythic tornado, has similarly unmasked George W. Bush.

The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of "compassionate conservatism," the lack of concern for the "underprivileged" his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action.

The two top deputies at FEMA remaining after Michael Brown's departure, one of them a former local TV newsman, are not disaster relief specialists but experts in P.R.

The "compassion" photos are outweighed by the cinéma vérité of poor people screaming for their lives.

After Katrina, the FEMA Web site directing charitable contributions prominently listed Operation Blessing, a Pat Robertson kitty that, according to I.R.S. documents obtained by ABC News, has given more than half of its yearly cash donations to Mr. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. If FEMA is that cavalier about charitable donations, imagine what it's doing with the $62 billion (so far) of taxpayers' money sent its way for Katrina relief. Actually, you don't have to imagine: we already know some of it was immediately siphoned into no-bid contracts with a major Republican donor, the Fluor Corporation, as well as with a client of the consultant Joe Allbaugh, the Bush 2000 campaign manager who ran FEMA for this White House until Brownie was installed in his place.

The era of big government for special interests is proving a fiasco. Especially when it's presided over by a self-styled C.E.O. with a consistent three-decade record of running private and public enterprises alike into a ditch.

Where does that leave us?

At this point, merely plain old competence, integrity and heart might do.

A tall order for the world of politics, my friends.

Not Much. You?

Early day of culture...At 10:15 am, I met Heather downtown at Playhouse Square to catch the live broadcast of the NPR show, Michael Feldman's Whadyaknow?

As Michael himself noted in his pre-show chat, going to see a taping of a radio show is a little leap of faith. It was pretty cool, though, to see Michael and Connie Schultz Pultizer -winning writer from the Plain Dealer who was the first guest, and she was entertaining and interesting, despite the dire predictions of Hollywood Stafford (who was also in attendance).

The musical guest was Judith Owen, who is Harry Shearer's (of Spinal Tap and the Simpson's) wife. I am sure that her performance was mesmerizing on the radio, but she has an amazing presence in person. During the break before her segment, she wandered casually onto the stage, wearing a long leather coat, and sat at the grand piano. She is one of the people that has such stage presence that you watch them, even when they are in the background. (See Alice Ripley) She did two tunes, a wonderful cover of Smoke On the Water and Train Out Of Hollywood.

There was another guest who was ridiculous and boring, and I took his segment to visit the restroom. Didn't miss anything.

The final guest was an acquaintance of Heather's, chef and owner of Lola and Lolita's, Michael Symon. He was really funny and cool. And I learned a lot about salami and that every culture has its own stuffed dumpling.

Following the show, Heather and I went across the street to the Wyndham Hotel for a nice, leisurely lunch at Winsor's. I had a great concoction of penne, spinach, pine nuts and chicken in alfredo sauce. Lovely.

As all time with Heather is, this was a great (albeit drizzly) afternoon.

Isn't It Rather Tasteless?

Today's reading: Maureen Dowd, Disney on Parade (New York Times).

(ps - the Times has recently changed its policy regarding op-ed pieces ( thanks for the tip, PenPal - and is making us pay to view them, so you may not be able to read this article any longer...)

Regarding the Presidential address, Ms. Dowd states:

On Thursday night, Mr. Bush wanted to appear casually in charge as he waged his own Battle of New Orleans in Jackson Square. Instead, he looked as if he'd been dropped off by his folks in front of a eerie, blue-hued castle at Disney world.

...His gladiatorial walk across the darkened greenswald, past a St. Louis Cathedral bathed in moon glow from White House klieg lights, just seemed to intensify the sense of an isolated, out-of-touch president clinging to hollow symbols as his disastrous disaster agency continues to flail.

In a ruined city - still largely without power, stinking with piles of garbage and still 40% submerged; where people are foraging in the miasma and muck for food, corpses and the sentimental detritus of their lives; and where unbearably sad stories continue to spill out about hords of evacuees who lost their homes and patients who died in hospitals without either electricity or rescuers - isn' t it rather tasteless, not to mention a waste of energy, to haul in White house generators just to give the president a burnished skin time and a prettified backdrop?

Well Gosh, I Hadn't Thought Of It That Way...

I just came across this interesting point of view from ABC News 20/20 co-anchor Mr. John Stossel.

In his September 7th article, In Praise of Price Gouging, regarding "merchants" charging $20 for a bottle of water in New Orleans, his position is that price gouging ensures that scarce resources go to only those who really need it.

Let him explain:

The people the softheaded politicians think are the cruelest are doing the most to help. Assuming the demand for bottled water was going to go up, they bought a lot of it, planning to resell it at a steep profit. If they hadn't done that, that water would not have been available for the people who need it the most.

Need it / Afford it. I guess they are the same thing...

As further proof Stossel provides an out-of-context quote from the author of 1776's bestselling An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Well, yeah, but I don't think Mr. Smith was talking about a disaster situation. In fact, here is another one of Smith's views, from The Theory of Moral Sentiments :

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others and render their happiness necessary to him though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Stossel.

Let's Go To The Stacks

What can literature tell us about post-Katrina events?

Albert Camus (1913 - 1960) wrote The Plague in 1946. The distilled version of the plot: the town of Oran is quarantined following an outbreak of the plague. At the time of the writing, the plague was a metaphor for Nazi ideology. But the beauty of metaphors means it can just as easily apply to to the tragic events in the South.

Part 2 of the book tells what happens when the plague becomes the concern of all of us. In this section, the townspeople struggle to fight their individual battles against the plague and the suffering and separation it forces them to endure. Some begin negotiating with smugglers, trying to imagine ways to escape the city and meet up again with their loved ones. The town priest preaches a fiery sermon that claims that God has sent the disease upon the people of Oran as a punishment for their sins. Others start voluntary sanitary squads in town, and many people volunteer to help.

The plague had swallowed up everything and everyone. No longer were there individual destinies; only a collective destiny, made of plague and the emotions shared by all.

In Part 3, the narrator tells of the worst period of the disease, the hot summer months when the plague kills so many people that there's no space left to bury them. The town crematorium is burning bodies at top-capacity and everyone in the city suffers terrible feelings of pain and exile.

Although the effort to alleviate and prevent human suffering seems to make little or no difference in the ravages of the plague, Camus asserts that perseverance in the face of tragedy is a noble struggle even if it ultimately fails to make an appreciable difference. Such catastrophes test the tension between individual self-interest and social responsibility.

It Is The Year of Maria Muldaur

As I said awhile back, this is the year of Maria Muldaur. To that end, I got a chance to see her perform, gardenia behind her ear and tamborine playing, at Nighttown with special guest the dobro player, Del Rey.

The first set was pretty good, but I wasn't blown away by anything in particular. But during the break, I talked to the very handsome guitar player, Craig Caffal, and learned a delicious, wonderful little bit of trivia. They all travel in a motorhome, not a bus first of all, and Maria is constantly watching Spongebob Squarepants. I love that.

So, it was time for the second set. And it was outstanding. The killer number was Bessie Smith's Empty Bed Blues, just Maria and a piano. She told the story of how she first heard Bessie sing the song on a 78 at the place where she used to babysit. Maria felt that she had finally acquired the chops and life experience to be able to sing it. She was right.

She concluded the show with what she called "The Big Three": It Ain't The Meat, It's the Motion, Don't You Feel My Leg, and, of course, Midnight at the Oasis. The encore was a lovely acapella gospel song she recorded with Bonnie Raitt called It's a Blessing.

I got to talk with Maria after the show, and told her how much I loved Sisters and Brothers and she told me a long story about how much fun she had doing recording it, and what an excellent fellow Eric Bibb is.

Great night. Real, live roots music doesn't come any better than this.

275

Yes, oh hallowed day. The Corolla has exceeded 275,000.

To celebrate, I got it an oil change. Kinda like a celebratory blood transfusion I suppose.

Hearts Of Darkness

Here's an article I enjoyed about two Cleveland comedians.

And it answers those nagging questions you might have about Ancient Greek comedic periods...

Exercise in Absurdity

Ah, take a moment to digest this article I found by Rebecca Hagelin.

I am still trying to process how in the world her clever mind was able to come up with these masterful conceits :

a) Katrina = Titanic. I've gotten this far : Katrina - lots of water. Titanic - hit an iceberg, which is a lot of frozen water. Katrina - man-made levees burst. Titanic - Man-made vessel (both words have six letters, L, E, V,S -just in a different order!) burst at the seams.
Both: Incredibly, not enough vessels to save people, when there should have been ample resources to save everyone.

But - Rebecca tells the tale of glorious humanitarian heroism on the ship (The accounts of survivors remind us of a time when civility and honor were more important to many than survival itself) - neglecting the third class debacle, and the fact that most of the victims of the Titanic were third class folks. So maybe there should have been more stories of "first-class" rich folks setting sail on the highways in their SUV's and watching New Orleans sink behind them from afar... And did I miss something? That was Sean Penn not Leonardo in New Orleans. Ah, where's the love story angle, people? But I will grant that the captain going down with the ship is a much missed image from Katrina...

and b) It's all the fault of RAP MUSIC! You owe it too yourself to read her tirade on gangsta rap, and why our "cultural embrace" of it has lead to the fall of civilization that is New Orleans.

Now with my limited knowledge of the history of rap (from M-16 and Kadobi), I know there is the great New York-Los Angeles feud. I don't know anything about New Orleans being the big southern center of rap. Seems to me it was all about the jazz, man.

That'll Cost You

Senator Rick Santorum thinks that people who don't heed evacuation warnings should be fined.

You have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.

Hey Rick, here's an idea for you : just use eminent domain, take their houses and then evict them! The supreme court will back you up all the way.

Can't Do Your Best Work On An Empty Stomach

A beleaguered Michael Brown said Friday he doesn't know why he was removed from his onsite command of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, but he does know the first thing he'll do when he returns to Washington:

I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims.

Maybe he'll send some take-out menus to the evacuees...

Not Synonyms

Pulled off
Sent back
Replaced
Recalled to Washington
Removed from the scene
Relieved of his on-site command
Ousted

Last time I checked, none of these phrases were viable synonyms for FIRED.

The Best Question So Far

In all of the many hours I have spent reading the Times recently, this is by far the best question I want an answer to:

"How can it be that Mr. Bill was better informed than Mr. Bush?" - Senator Mary L. Landrieu

And you can watch Bill's 2004 PSA here, it's only 49 seconds long, after you get through the 30 second ARMY commercial...

It's All About Retention, Really

So, I've been wallowing in my Sarah Vowell / Maureen Dowd reading frenzy, and came upon the most curious little tidbit in one of Ms. Dowd's essays from 1999, entitled Cultural Drifter:

He (W.) just finished Isaac's Storm, a history of the Galveston hurricane of 1900...

Too bad he didn't have to do a book report on it. How odd the hurricane hit on September 8, but since it was in Texas, I am sure there was nothing applicable to the situation in Louisiana.

On Prayer and Belief

I do not pray... I do not expect God to single me out and grant me advantages over my fellow men... Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down. I do not choose to admit weakness. I accept the challenge of responsibility.
- Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Guess Who's NOT Coming To Dinner...

I was listening to NPR this evening, and heard this report that the 1,000 evacuees that were expected to arrive in Ohio were now not coming.

They don't want to go so far away from home.

And as previous posts show, I am filled with empathy and all, but I can't help feeling like Ohio just got snubbed.

Granted, I will be the first to bitch about the weather here, as the last year of winter posts will attest, but this fair state has just GOT to be better than living in the Astrodome.

Sure Texas has cowboys, but we have Amish people!

New Music Tuesday - Only A Song

Well, today is an excellent opportunity to talk about the greatness of Laura Nyro.

My request is that everyone go and listen to this song today. I would recommend the May 30, 1971 live recording at the Fillmore East, featuring Laura solo, accompanying herself at the grand piano. Anyway, this has always been a fan favorite, and the lyrics are especially good for today.

Save the Country

Come on, people! Come on, children!
Come on down to the glory river.

Gonna wash you up, and wash you down,
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down.

I got fury in my soul, fury's gonna take me to the glory goal.
In my mind I can't study war no more.

Save the people! Save the children! Save the country now!

Come on, people! come on, children!
Come on down to the glory river.

Gonna wash you up and wash you down.
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down.

Come on people! Sons and mothers!
Keep the dream of the two young brothers.
Gonna take that dream and ride that dove.

We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build a dream with love, children,
We could build the dream with love, oh people,
We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build the dream with love.

Come on, people! Come on, children!
There's a king at the glory river.

And the precious king, he loved the people to sing;
Babes in the blinkin' sun sang
"We Shall Overcome".

So That's Where He Gets It

I read about this little quote on a blog written by a UK commenter on my blog. I can't believe I missed it...

Former First Lady Barbara Bush has been quoted in regard to the poor and now homeless victims of Katrina:

So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.

A Hero Just In Time

The super-deluxe anniversary edition DVD was released today...it is one of the greatest movies of all-time, features AFI's #1 hero in film, takes place in the South and deals with racism and the fear of the unknown. It is a movie that delivers messages of tolerance, justice, and integrity.

Hey, Boo

If those two words fail to bring you to tears, you are very cold indeed.

Treat yourself to movie night.

What I Saw Today

1. Walking around on my lunch hour, I passed a woman wearing quite possibly the best T-Shirt of all time. It said:

“I’m not with stupid anymore.”

I am thinking all of us should get one after the next election...

2. Driving home, I saw a medium size bush/weed/botanical organism, of which the top portion was brilliant red – oh yes, Fall is here, my friends.

Self Evident

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

— The Declaration of Independence, 1776

Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead

Today's reading from the New York Times is by Bob Herbert.

Here are my favorite paragraphs:

Mr. Bush flew south on Friday and proved (as if more proof were needed) that he didn't get it. Instead of urgently focusing on the people who were stranded, hungry, sick and dying, he engaged in small talk, reminiscing at one point about the days when he used to party in New Orleans, and mentioning that Trent Lott had lost one of his houses but that it would be replaced with "a fantastic house - and I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever by a president during a dire national emergency. What we witnessed, as clearly as the overwhelming agony of the city of New Orleans, was the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration.

No One Is Coming For You

If you happened to miss Meet the Press on Sunday, this is a transcript of the end of the devastating, emotional interview Tim Russert did with Aaron Broussard, the president of Jefferson Parish in Louisiana:

I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, Emergency Management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" and he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you."

Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday… and she drowned Friday night. SHE DROWNED FRIDAY NIGHT!

Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God's sake, just shut up and send us somebody.

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?

I first heard this song back in 1987 on a great Laurel Massé (possessor of what some critics have called "the perfect voice") LP called Easy Living...it sticks in my mind because it was certainly a good song, but it was also memorable because the Penpal told me later that she thought the title meant Miss New Orleans, like in a beauty pageant. (ps - Laurel has written an excellent letter about the situation in New Orleans and what it means to music lovers on the first page of her website - check it out please).

So, in an attempt to get back to art, music and culture here at the CStL, I would like to direct you to another beautiful piece in the New York Times by former New Orleans resident, Mark Childress, in which he enumerates the 22 reasons to miss New Orleans.

"The Fantasyland of the Administration's Faith-Based Propaganda"

I've been working a very long stretch without a day off (which will continue for a bit) and so I have been getting all of my news from the New York Times.

Today's excellent op-ed piece is from Frank Rich entitled, Falluja Floods the Superdome.
Again, I encourage you to read it.

And a call-out to MyFriendJason, Mr. Rich uses the word hubristic in the piece.

The Private Sector Must Help

I got this email today from my good friend in the glamorous world of publishing. The point being that everyone can roll up their sleeves and do something...so in addition to other things, I am posting letter number two this week...

The private sector must help. Relief is too slow and the agencies dedicated to the relief can't get supplies to the survivors fast enough. I'm suggesting a write-in campaign to corporations to ask for their on-going help.

Today I wrote to some celebrities who are actively involved and asked them to spread the word. I also wrote several diaper and formula companies as well as underwear companies. I will continue to include food, medicine & clothing companies. I have urged my company to send children's books to the shelters and to offer our trucks for shipping critical items. Please spread the word to all that you know and ask them to dedicate some time to write to these companies. Please write to everyone you think will spread the word- local papers, local government, interested celebrities and so on.

Sample letter to Proctor and Gamble:

Each day we can see that the survivors of Katrina need diapers and formula for their babies -needs so critical and so basic that it puts human suffering in a sobering light. Please make a generous donation AND please offer your customers a way to purchase these items (at a discount) to send to the relief centers. Please consider setting this up and using your trucks to send the products into the needed areas. Your PR people could easily spread the news about this program through the media. Please do this. Please.

Sample Letter to Hanes:

Each day we hear that the survivors of Katrina need socks and underwear - a need so basic that it puts human dignity in a sobering light. Please make a generous donation AND please offer your customers a way to purchase these items (at a discount) to send to the relief centers. Please consider setting this up and using your trucks to send the products into the needed areas. Your PR people could easily spread the news about this program through the media. Please do this. Please.

Thanks all, let's pitch in.

A Chilling Lack of Empathy

My esteemed Penpal, the one responsible for hipping me up to the wonderful Sarah Vowell, has been diligently sending me articles by Maureen Dowd, and now I am really getting a thing for her as well. This latest article (United States of Shame - New York Times) really sums things up. Allow me to quote a few of my favorite parts, but do go read the piece in its entirety.

Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.

and:

Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

and finally:

It is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.

If only.

Vacation Is Over...

It looks like the tone of CStL is going to change for a little while, folks. Time out from music, art and weird, interesting things, and time for a little outrage. To wit, I post in its entirety something I hope you have already read:

Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore

Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours, Michael Moore

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

I've Been Interviewed!

On his August 16th post, MyFriendJason has a five question circulating "interview", and I decided to participate and let myself be interviewed, completely contrary to my usual misanthropic nature. So this "game" is not dissimilar to a chain letter, but what the heck...for what its worth, here is the "interview" of me by MFJ, followed by instructions for future players:

1.What one physical object that you have lost, do you miss the most?
In one of my early careers as a veterinary assistant, I removed my high school class ring when I was performing a procedure on an animal. Somehow it got lost. The ring itself doesn't mean much (neither does high school for that matter), but I purchased the ring with the funds in a bank account my deceased, and much beloved, grandmother had started for me when I was an infant. So it was really a reminder of her, not my graduation. It would be pretty cheesy to wear a high school class ring at my age, but I think I would still really like to have it.

2. Describe the most important attribute that a potential partner must have to make themselves attractive to you.

They have to get me, get the music and most of all, want it in equal measure.
Being small, trim and dark-haired doesn't hurt, either.

3. Imagine coffee has been outlawed in the US. Would you move to another country to continue having it, or risk prosecution and imprisonment by staying here? (This assumes you would not simply give up drinking it!)

Can't move to another country, mainly because getting a passport is too much bloody trouble.
So that leaves risking prosecution, which has conjured up glorious images of jazz-age bootlegging - underground Starbuck's with secret passwords - oh yes, bring back the fashions and music - and can I have a gun moll to call my own?

Give up drinking it? Are you mad? My body would disintegrate in 24 hours without the caffeine molecules that hold it together...

4. You are given control of one million dollars. You cannot spend it on yourself. How would you use it?

I would do three things:

a. $10,000 - Random Acts of Kindness - I'd get on amazon.com and buy things from stranger's wishlists and take great pleasure at thought of the look on their faces when this box of treasures arrives at their house with no explanation

b. $290,000 - Supporting the Defenseless - I'd split $40,000 between groups that are protecting orcas and tigers, and $250,000 of the money would go to do whatever I could to stop logging the coast of British Columbia, the home of the spirit bear (Ursus americanus kermodei), a creature that should be allowed to live unmolested on the one piece of the earth that it calls home.

c. $700,000 - Urban Renewal - Refurbishing an old theatre and fulfilling my lifelong, deepest fantasy of having a urban venue that is constantly presenting something - theatre, film, lectures, comedians, readings, and most of all, of course, live music.

5. What three people (living or not) would you invite to a dinner party in your home, and why? (They must be real people - not fictional.)

Well, the key to this answer is that as a good hostess, you have to plan an event in which all of guests would get along, so that made my choices a bit different than my original inclinations.
My dinner guests are: Oscar Wilde, Julie Taymor and Camille Paglia. Why? Because all three are geniuses - real titans of intellect, as well as being artistic, theatrical and I wouldn't have to worry about keeping the conversation going. In fact, I'd just have to sit back and watch them try to get a word in around Camille. I am positive Oscar and Camille would be best buddies immediately. And, not being completely altruistic, I find both Julie and Camille extremely attractive, and Oscar could care less about them - good for me.

Instructions:
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying Interview me. Leave your blog address (if you have one or if I don't know you) so I can think of challenging questions for you.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different. I'll post the questions in the comments section of this post. I'm going to limit this to three people, to both hedge my bets and to make sure this doesn't take over my life.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.