If can add one more to the list of "overlooked" of our lifetime:

EPMD

I was just listening to an old album of their's, "Back in Business" The album was released in the mid-nineties after they had broken up for a few years. It's not like I forgot how good they are, I just forget to listen to them. And then everytime I do I wonder why the hell I haven't been listening to them more. I would probably put these two on my top 10 rap acts. "Back in Business" is awesome. It sort of has that "Chronic 2000" feel to it. As if they are saying "Yeah, that's right, were going to make another album, and yes it is going to be awesome. Deal with it bitches." Throw on a guest appearances by Das EFX, on the track "Intrigued" and it just gets that much better.

Anyway, all y'all bitches should add some EPMD to you collections. And some DAS EFX while you are at it.

Alright! It's Friday, and a lot going on. I've decided to live blog the day--exciting!

9:40: DP gets a call from her dad!

9:42: DP and her dad discuss their soon-to-be grand____/niece or nephew!

9:43: DP and her dad discuss her little brother, and how it's stressful to find a job at this age!

9:44: Whoa, curveball--DP's brother is calling on the other line! Sorry dad, gotta go!

9:45: DP and her brother, talking about relationships!

9:46: "How's the job search?"

DP had her wisdom teeth taken out yesterday, so I took the day off to hang out with her and make sure everything is good in the post-op, which is why I'm not at my usual post--and, as you can see, it's just a *bit* slow going for me this morning. Maybe I'll do a links-of-the-day for everyone bored at work today.

Well, it wasn't neccessarily pretty over the last month, but damnit the Sox clinched and I'm pumped. Now lets just see if they can get over the hump and actaully win a playoff series -- something they haven't done in a while. In my opinion their pitching staff should put them in good position; they have arguably the best pitching staff from from starters to closers. Buehrle, Garcia, Contreras, Garland, McCarthy, O. Hernandez, Marte, Polite, Jenks, Hermansen, They're freakin' stacked.

Lost is far and away the best show on television. For those of you who haven't yet jumped on the show's band wagon, do it NOW! Every episode is better than the one before and every single one leaves you hanging on the edge with something awesome just about to happen. If you have never seen the show you need to do two things: Buy the first season on DVD (or just rent it from ToddBuster), and set the DVR to record both episodes that will be on next Wed. (the first episode will be last night's episode). I fully guarantee the best television experience ever or your money back.

Another show that you may want to start watching is Kitchen Confidential which is on Mondays after Arrested Development. The first two minutes of the premiere was probably the best opening any show has ever had. That two minutes progressed from the chef taking pulls off a bottle of Vodka while preparing a meal to having sex with some chick in the kitchen to doing blow with two chicks in the kitchen to getting thrown out on the street naked to hitting his boss and, finally, to working as a cook at a low rent Olive Garden type place. If you aren't laughed out from Arrested Development, give it a try.

P.S. Sawyer is officially the biggest badass ever. Come on, the man dug a bullet out of his shoulder with his bare hands.

Jill Gualding, and any other ultra-sensative d-bag at the University of Iowa. Gualding, a law professor at Iowa, says that "I want the locker room gone." What locker room, you ask? The visiting team's locker at their football stadium. Hayden Fry, Iowa football god who was a psychology major, commissioned the locker room to be painted pink decades ago, because pink has a "calming and passive" effect on people.

According the the ESPN.com, critics (including several professors and students) say that the use of pink "demeans women, perpetuates offensive stereotypes about women and homosexuality, and puts the university in the uncomfortable position of tacitly supporting these messages."

Oh my God. I don't even know what direction to go with this. I've got a couple, and they probably contradict themselves, but whatever:

--You know who is "perpetuating offensive stereotypes about women and homosexuality?" These stupid demonstrators! No supporter of this is out there saying "we like it because whoever we're playing is automatically a girl/homosexual for dressing in this locker room," are they? No. NO. It is these crazed people that simply don't have enough to do. You read why Fry had this done--he was looking for any angle to be one-up on his opponents.

--Pink is a girly color. Period. Football is a man's sport. Period. It is funny that Iowa painted their visitor's locker room pink. That's it. SHUT UP.

--Does the color pink have its own PR firm? Lobbyist group? What is going on here? And if the use of pink with things intended to come off as "girly" goes, does this group of "critics" go after women's clothing lines that produce clothes/accessories that have pink in them? What about the "Safe Place" stickers you see everywhere on college campuses that signify that particular office/building is a tolerant/safe place for those in the G/L/T community? Aren't those...*gasp*...PINK????? So, should this group with gay/lesbian rights in mind go after....gay/lesbian groups that use the pink triangle to signify that certain places are safe for homosexuals? When you look at it this way, it certainly seems that there are much bigger fish to fry out there before they should be worrying about Iowa's football locker room.

--Do these "critics" even go to football games? Why the f*** do they care??

My head hurts.

I haven't even read it yet, but there is a six-page e-mail discussion between Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman here. It has to be good.

Give a hand to the soon-to-be former majority leader. Oh, come on! You can do better than that, THIS MAN IS GOING TO JAIL!

So Bill Frist (Rep.) is going the way of Martha after suspiciously dumping his father and brother's company's stock a couple of days before it dropped. What's that Bill? It was in a blind trust and you had no control? Bullshit! Your trustees probably talk to your parents more than you do. What a greedy d-bag.

I also heard something else interesting tonight. So there was a recent study of congressional abuse of travel put on by a non-partisan group called the Opponents for Responsible Government (or something along those lines). Who do you think was the numero uno abuser of congressional travel? Many of you might say Tom Delay (Rep.) as CNN did a story a couple of months ago about how he ravaged his travel account. However, the biggest abuser of congressional travel was Harold Ford (Dem.) of Tennessee. Wow, why doesn't CNN cover that one? Or the fact that ten out of the top ten were democrats. Weird. I wonder why I haven't seen this plastered all over CNN.com or scroll across the banner on Headline News? Oh, and where did Delay finish on the study? 121st.

If you will all note, I abused both parties on this post. The only reason I spent more verbage on the study was because I hate CNN. I am now trying to be more bi-partisan because, from all appearances, those rim jobs up in Washington never will be.

Finally, I must painstakingly make a retraction from my Rant post. The Red Sox are not cunts, simply Ass Clowns.

P.S. If you didn't get the quote from the first line, go back an watch every Eddie Murphy movie from 1986 to present day.

Not that any of you care, but Sarah and I are finally joining the rest of the ipod world. We just ordered a new Mac Powerbook and since Sarah is a student we recieve a free ipod with it. We will finally fit in with the rest of the white headphone-clad masses that wonder the transit system. Look out Chicago here we come! No all I need is a Louis Vuitton laptop bag and I'll be set.

Just read in the OWH today that only 55 of Nebraska's 93 counties have a Democratic Party chairman, and the rest of the article talked about how it was going to take more than 5 years to correct this.

Apparently they need a little help with organization, so I've come up with a solution for them:

Get a list of registered democrats and start making some calls. Seriously, it's 38 goddamn counties. Someone with my resources could knock this out in two weeks, tops.

How do these a-holes manage to breathe. I no longer feel sorry for any of these fucking self loathing pukes.

F the Nebraska Democratic Party.

...for D'Angelo. Apparently he was in a car accident and was in critical condition. This just after being convicted of DUI and coke possession.

I have said (to the shagrin of many on this board) that Voodoo is one of the top five albums made in our lifetime. For me, it just might be my favorite album ever. He is an amazingly talented artist, and I would be very, very sad if it ended like this.

I hope that he gets out of the hospital soon, and gets his life straightened out.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/26/people.dangelo.ap/index.html

UPDATE: I know you guys don't care, but look at his ride--someone was telling me about how they saw a Hummer that rammed the back of a car in Omaha yesterday, and said the car was totally smashed, and the Hummer looked brand new (think it might have been Man in Black). Keep that in mind looking at this picture of D'Angelo's car. Frightening.

http://165.1.59.193/Previews/Mini/%7BED817E5B-8E5B-4244-9D1F-79F945733408%7D.pobj.MINI.jpg

The thing that pushed me into the following rant was reading two separate articles (one in National Geographic and the other I don't remember where) about energy, and the usage of wind turbines for that. Wind power is gaining momentum around the world as a legitimate source of energy. It's completely renewable and engineers keep coming up with new designs and sizes that are generating ever-larger amounts of energy more effeciently. However, wind projects keep meeting resistance by environmentalists who state the turbines are an eyesore on the landscape, destroying the "aethetic" of the natural world, and that ocean-ancored turbines will disrupt migratory bird patterns. Turbines are a sensible idea with the goal to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels yet apparently that just isn't quite good enough. It just makes me wonder when environmentalists are going to realize that this is not, and never will be a perfect world.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for the environment but I also understand that there are certain sacrifices with any decision. Radical environmentalists need to realize that sooner or later they are going to have to be a little flexible and meet the rest of the world somewhere in the middle. It is about weighing the good against the bad, especially when it comes to energy issues.

Take hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen has been a buzz word in recent years -- It's a readily available fuel, that's only bi-product is water. However what gets lost is the process of extracting hydrogen in the first place. The process of extracting hydrogen from water takes energy, more energy than the hyrdrogen puts out in the end. So, this means that an increase of fuel cells will actual increase the amount of energy needed -- energy that at this point comes from buring fossil fuels, thus nullifying the emissions cut by fuel cells in the first place. There is a method of extracting hydrogen that uses nuclear energy, and there has been a push by the recent administration to look into a greater use of nuclear. However, estimates show that under the current methods of nuclear energy there may only be enough usable uranium for 50 or so years. There are projects in the works attempting to change the nuclear process which would expand this by decades.

The next big thing has been bio-mass. From the big push for ethanol, to the numbers of hippies converting their deisel engines to run off of vegatable oil this movement has been gaining momentum. However, photosynthesis (which is what makes this all possible) is comparetively ineffecient, and it is said that in order to power the U.S. with biomass we would have to more than double the current amount of land used for agriculture. And I am pretty sure all of those environmentalist wouldn't go for plowing up native prairies and forest to make room for corn and soybean fields.

The bottom line is that in the US and around the world people need to meet somewhere in the middle and start making decisions that benifit/hinder both sides for the greater good. I am pleased to see the push for renewable energy like solar and wind, but it pains me to see that these pushes still are not good enough with the environmentalists.

(It's ironic that I write this rant sitting in front of my computer, a desk light buring bright, Itunes playing loudly, a fan churning nearby, and at least least two other lights on in the apartment for no reason. I am not exactly "living off the grid")

A few months back, March 7th specifically, I graded the Christmas presents I bought for myself on this very blog. As promised, here is the progress report of my gifts to myself.

Print edition of the The Onion. I thought it would be a pretty sweet gift and I wasn't far off. The street cred you get from having the latest edition on your coffee table is unmistakable. However, when the only beings that see it are cats and ashtrays, the street cred becomes a moot point. The page 4 editorial is usually the funniest thing I read every week and the a/v club section usually reviews some shit I'm interested in. And sometimes I even enjoy the Savage Love column on the back page. For the most part though, the paper just clutters up an already cluttered apartment. Adjusted grade: B-

The SNL Ultimate collection. I still don't think I've watched all of them. (Which I might do today because the footbal games aren't that interesting right now.) That first week was pretty sweet with the Eddie Murphy and Dana Carvey and comedians of that nature, but I think I shot my load early by watching what I thought would be the best first. Adjusted grade: Incomplete.

One-year subscription to Spin. I sometimes forget I even spent the ten bucks on this. I don't even know how these fuckos stay in business. I think you are supposed to send magazines at the same time every month. Or at least once a month. ANGER! LOUD NOISES! Adjusted grade: EMB

If you guys want, I can list my Christmas wishlist so that you guys won't have to read my whines.

Satan in the House!
No, but seriously. I haven't posted anything worth a shit for a while and on this fine Saturday morning I decided today is the day. Of course, my belly-button has been discharging something that looks remarkably like tapioca pudding for the last eighteen hours (don't ask), so I may get a little heated over the course of this post.

Rant #1
The religious right is the most fucked up, evil, intolerant group in the history of the world. I really think these people would recreate the holocaust if they could. This is a group of people who believe a single book should control every single action they ever make, regardless of who that action may hurt. I mean seriously. Gay people are evil? People who don't believe in exactly what they believe are going to hell? God should be an integral part of our government? The reason this country is so FUCKING GOOD is that we have freedom to choose our beliefs and how to express those beliefs. These people would censor everything if it didn't mesh with the Bible. Fucking Assholes.

Rant #2 (or rant #1 part B)
This is for all of you who have not yet given up that meaningless possession you call a soul. Organized religion is a crutch. That's right, I said it! There is absolutely no way that any religion has gotten the whole faith thing just right. Going to church is simply a tool to make the masses feel like they're good people. Now go ahead and call me evil or whatever else you mindless sheep feel is a appropriate.

Rant #3
Christianity is not unique. 500 years before Jesus Christ, there was a man named Mithras. So what you may ask? Well, supposedly, Mithras was the son of the god of creation (Veruna) in the Zoroastrianism religion. Like Christ, Mithras had twelve apostles. He cured the sick and even raised people from the dead. He also began the practice of using bread and wine as sacraments in religious practice. Unlike Christ, he was not crucified or put to death. Instead, he ascended directly to heaven to rule as a god with his father. Mithraism began as a secret cult and eventually came the Roman empire where it perpetuated. In fact, before the Council of Nicaea, Mithraism was battling Christianity as the major religion of the Roman Empire. But Constantine put a stop to the religion at the Council when he and other Christian leaders made Christianity the sole religion of the empire and outlawed all other religions. So there you go, if Constantine's mother would have been a Mithraist as opposed to a Christian, we all would have been raised in the Mithraism/Zoroastrianism religions. Snoogins.

Rant #4
Alright, this one isn't so much a rant as a really funny conspiracy theory that I heard on Cowherd's show yesterday. So supposedly, hurricane Katrina was not an act of nature. Some weatherman in Pocatello, Idaho (that's right Pocatello, Idaho) has an alternative theory. Here it is:

Scott Stevens says after looking at NASA satellite photos of the hurricane, he is convinced it was caused by electromagnetic generators from ground-based microwave transmitters. The generators emit a soundwave between three and 30 megahertz and Stevens claims the Russians invented the storm-creating technology back in 1976 and sold it to others in the late 1980s. Stevens says the clouds formed by the generators are different than normal clouds and are able to appear out of nowhere and says Katrina had many rotation points that are unusual for hurricanes. At least ten nations and organizations possess the technology but Stevens suspects the Japanese Yakuza created Katrina in order to make a fortune in the futures market and to get even with the U.S. for the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima.

The Japanese Yakuza? Why would the Japanese mob want to destroy New Orleans? For retribution? There wouldn't be a Japanese mafia if the imperialistic government was still in power. The futures market didn't even change that much after Katrina. Rita's a different story, so maybe they missed their target the first time and now are trying to get it right.

Rant #5
So all of a sudden the BoSox aren't going to make the fucking playoffs. What the fuck is wrong with those idiotic cunts? They have one of the best line-ups in baseball and the pitching was supposed to be good. But guess what? The pitching fucking sucks dick now. The goddamn Yankees are going to win the AL East and the White Sox/Indians are going to be the wild card. Now I'm going to have to jump on the Indians bandwagon because I just can't stand the White Sox, the Angels just won a world series, and the Yankees are the most evil cock gobblers to ever walk the planet (I know. Three of them have Board of Director positions at work). Nobody in the NL even matters except the Cards. go tribe. FUCK!

Rant #6
Nebraska sucks. That's it

Rant #7
So don't you think the governor of Louisiana would have learned her lesson by now. Yesterday, she and the director of the Katrina FEMA effort held a press conference. She told the public that if they had not evacuated from New Orleans by that time, then they were on their own. Holy Shit! This woman is going to be my new boss in hell. I undestand that once the rain started pouring again it would be very difficult to evacuate people, but don't just say "hey, you're on your own fuckers!" This bitch deserves to be left right next to a broken levee.

Rant #8
We need everybody to step up their posting (myself included). Reading all of these GAHill posts is like listening to a favorite CD over and over and over. The CD's good, but after a while you just need to listen to something else. I don't care if you just write, "My butt hurt this morning from all of the great sex I had last night." Let's get this shit rolling again.

Rant #9
New Rule: After TJ, nobody else can get married for at least five years. Sorry GAHill, but this is getting fucking rediculous.

That's it I'm done. I have to now go to Mammal's wedding, where I'm sure the MIB and I will get drunk and embarass ourselved like we usually do.
Peace, Love, and Go fuck yourselves.

As a White Sox fan, the last few weeks have been excruciating. There's nothing like watching your favorite team have a collapse of historic proportions. They've stunk, playing no where near the type of ball that had them on top for the first art of the season.

However, Cleveland has played their asses off. How the hell is it possible that Cleveland is the third best team in baseball (behind only Chicago and St. Louis). Unbelievable. And if I remember right, I think the MIB called it in the begining of the season. Good call sir.

Alright, let me get this straight: 3 hurricanes over the last month; one of which destroying a major US city and another one on its way to doing the same with Houston. There was , according to a news station headline, "Mysterious 'Ball of Fire' Seen in Florida Skies" seen by thousands of people. A tornado in Minneapolis. And now, a series of earthquakes in Los Angeles.

Does this make anyone else kind of sit up straight and start to wonder what the hell is going on here? Does anyone else feel like they're meeting with the Mayor of NYC in Ghostbusters here, and say "Mr. Mayor, this is some real, Armageddon-type stuff?" (c) Ray Stantz? Or "Mr. Mayor, I have shit that will turn you WHITE!" (c) Winston Zedmore

And now, I will let the smart assed remarks flood the comments page. Big Boi, has your boss mentioned anything lately?

I don't think it is possible for a television show to be funnier. Last night's season premier was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Anyone else see it? The Dundees were the funniest awards I have ever seen--Pam being drunk and thanking God for her Dundee was priceless.

http://imafraidofmeatheads.blogspot.com/

Read the post under the scan of the newspaper article. Unbelievable. Just a reminder that, even if Chappelle went momentarily crazy, he is an even cooler dude than previously thought. Amazing.

I thought this could be an interesting post, but everyone needs to participate. I thought we could come up with a list of songs (or albums, if you like) that have, for whatever reason, been impossibly great and equally impossibly slept on.

I came up with this idea while driving to Omaha after tending bar last night. I was listening to the song that inspired this idea: "I Need More Love," by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. This is such an incredibly great song, but unless you've been to a Dave Matthews Band concert, you've probably not even heard of Robert Randolph (not referring to contributors here; I'm pretty sure everyone here has listened to him at some point). He is, easily, one of the absolute greatest guitarists of our generation. And this song brings together so many elements, for me, of a great song. The driving slide guitar of Johnson, the gospel organ and chorus joyfully screaching behind Johnson, the march of a drumbeat, and the positive lyrics are the backbone and make it a really good song. However, what puts it into "great" territory for me is something that cannot be quantified--there is just so much soul behind it. I love about any song that sounds like there are at least 50 people in the studio singing, clapping and playing their hearts out, and that is exactly what this song sounds like. If you finish listening to this song, and you don't want to stand up and shout, you simply do not have a soul (meaning Big Boi probably hates this song). Here are a few others:

--"Answering Bell," Ryan Adams. This is the best song that the Counting Crows never did. Wait, who's that singing backup? Adam Duritz? Well, Adam, I guess you can say that you were at least part of the best song the Crows never did. And is there a weirder musical pairing than the world's biggest music snob, Ryan Adams, and the world's worst dreads/dork who painfully remade "Big Yellow Taxi?" I didn't think so, either.

--"Sister Havana," Urge Overkill. OK, this was a slightly popular song when it was released in 1993 (I believe). However, this song kicked so much ass, and no one ever mentions it as one of the best "alternative" songs of the 1990's. Why? Great rhythm guitar and solo, the lead singer's voice is awesome, and it is catchy as hell. What else do you want out of a song?

--"What's The World Got In Store," Wilco. OMG. Soul-bearing, desparate love song. Sweet banjo. Great Hammond organ wailing in the background. Beautiful. This is another head-shaker, to say the least. I think if you played this song for 10 people, 8 would love it. However, maybe 1 of those 10 would actually have heard of it (or Wilco, for that matter). I don't know what else Wilco can do to get noticed. All they do is churn out classic song after classic song. Remember when that was more important than hiring Kanye West to produce your single to get on the radio?

--"Flashback," Gift of Gab. Here's another one to file under the same thing said about Wilco above, but how does a guy put out one of the best rap albums in the history of the genre and not get ANY play (well, minus in the background of Diet Coke and Saturn commercials)??? His flow is impeccible, and it goes perfect with his soul-drenched samples. I really could have picked any song of 4th Dementional Rocketships Going Up, but this one gets the nod because no one since DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince in "Summertime" does a better job of painting a vivid, lyrical picture of being young and innocent. Sample lyric: "Way before you ever had a sip of your first booze/Drunk off life/The simple things kept you amused." He then goes on to rattle off basically anything a kid growing up in the 1980s would have done. Just great storytelling.

Anyways, feel free to add on to this post, or throw up your ideas in the comments.

Oregon St +14 at Louisville

Eastern Michigan +28.5 at Michigan

Kentucky +2.5 at Indiana (the white lineman got treated even better than usual this week)

North Texas -4 vs. Tulsa

NFL:

Chicago +1.5 vs. Detroit

San Diego +3 at Denver

I was just wondering what everybody's doing on Saturday. I was thinking about having one of those old school, get a keg and puke by 10PM type days. Either that or we could have one those old testament, wrath of God type bar tabs too. Let me know.

Did anyone else think that, during the fourth quarter of the Eagles-Falcons game, that Terrell Owens was visibly not trying?

Other thoughts:

-The Eagles losing Trotter at the beginning of the game might have been the single reason they lost...
-...Unless you count Donovan McNabb for the main reason they lost, which you probably could.
-Did Demorrio Williams gain 50 pounds and become twice as fast since Nebraska, or is that just me? My God, he looks like (and plays like) a total bad ass.
-I was on the total Mike Vick hater bandwagon...does the positive Vick bandwagon have any extra tickets?
-The Falcons' defense is sweet.
-Does Jim Mora, Jr. seem like the coolest guy to play for in professional sports? I thought so, too.
-John Madden's mind is slowly becoming jello right in front of our eyes--we have a potential Harry Caray-like end to a career, which will be extremely entertaining.

You know when it is late at night, you can’t sleep, and you want nothing more than just to talk to someone? You’re over-emotional (deep, lonely, longing, searching, etc.), and even the smallest thing can totally speak and connect with you? Well, for me, nine times out of 10 it is a song.

Now, I purchased Coldplay’s “XY” the day it came out. However, I have never given it a good listening to. In fact, it wasn’t until this morning while I was getting ready for work that I happened across VH1 playing the video for “Fix You.” I probably listened to it six or seven times throughout the day, strictly due to the fact that it was completely embedded in my head like a tick. However, it wasn’t until driving home from work tonight that it totally tied together every emotion and thought that I am having at this moment. Granted, it isn’t on some Bob Dylan or Conor Oberst tip, searching to translate some weird, obscure reference into raw emotion. But guess what? Chris Martin, at this particular moment, is singing to me right now. I assume when he sings “and I will fix you,” he is referring to God. As with the “light” that he refers to. Well, God—I need some fixing, and I certainly need my bones ignited.

Anyways, the point of this post is two-fold: one, I wanted to post the lyrics to this song, because, as I said, it is totally fixating me and my emotions right now. Second, and going back to the first sentence of this post, I am totally at that emotional, wanting-to-talk-to-someone moment right now.

Yeah, it is a totally sappy, heavy post. But this blog isn’t named “Heavy Soul” for nothing, right?

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

Thought I would offer up a break from all the hurricane talk, with mention of a show that I have been getting a kick out of lately -- "It's Always Sunny in Phillidelphia" on FX. The show revolves around four twenty-somethings who own a bar. It is nothing ground-breaking but it makes me laugh. You should check it out if you haven't already. It airs at 10:00 on Tuesdays.

Anyway, things are good here in Chi city.

The craziness continues...for whatever reason, Jimmy Kimmel has Al Sharpton on tonight as his main guest (for the record, the reason I am watching this show for the first time since Bill Simmons wrote for him is due to the fact that Common will be on the show). Here's some excerpts on how he feels the hurricane efforts came along:

"What you don't see on television is all the seniors and kids...who are abandoned."

Really? That seems to be all anyone is showing the last few days.

"...we don't have a plan to protect us? It is frightening that we have this level of incompetence and insensitivity in Washington, D.C." [loud applause]

Well, Rev. Sharpton, you might want to read my previous post. As has been pointed out, the Mayor of New Orleans, a black Democrat, said weeks before the hurricane that people in an event like this would be "on their own." The black Democrat mayor worked with the woman Democrat governor to work out a plan, which amounted to "if you don't get out yourself, you're screwed." Again, I ask: how on earth does this go back to the Federal Government? There is a blog with an excellent timeline of events leading up to and following Katrina. You can find it here. It is (mostly) without commentary, but rather taken straight from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It shows that, in fact, the Federal government was taking steps to be ready for this thing Thursday and Friday before the hurricane hit...while the people in charge of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana tried deciding the legality of a mandatory evacuation. Ahh, bureaucracy--I love it!

Kimmel asks him if he would be as critical if this were under Bill Clinton's presidency: "This doesn't have anything to do with democrat and republican...I was critical of Clinton, too."

Okay, maybe we'll be rational here...

"It takes three days for the President to say 'something has to be done!'" To which Kimmel replies, "hey, at least he cut his vacation by two days." To which Sharpton says "I hope we give him a long vacation as soon as possible."

...or maybe not. This is ridiculous. The White House, along with FEMA, was imploring the Governor and Mayor to let them come in and help assist, plus pull the trigger on a mandatory evacuation, BEFORE THE STORM HIT THE COAST! Yes, Bush should have been on the first flight out of Crawford when it was becoming apparent that this was becoming a category four or five hurricane. I totally agree with this statement. But to say that Bush and the White House was totally disconnected with what was going on is irresponsible and simply not true. There was an aircraft carrier waiting to deploy military doctors, airlifts, medical supplies, water, and Ready-to-eat meals as closely as they could possibly be. Thousands of troops were waiting as close to New Orleans as possible, waiting to go in and assist the New Orleans Police. FEMA began it's first wave of relief efforts less than 24 hours after the hurricane hit. On Sunday, August 28th, President Bush personally called Governor Blanco and implored her to demand a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. Before even that, Bush sent a letter authorizing a state of emergency for the State of Louisiana, freeing up federal funds and resources...this was on FRIDAY.

After Kimmel asks Sharpton as to what he thought about what Kanye West said on NBC's benefit show ("President Bush does not care about black people"), Sharpton replied "I don't think he cares about a lot of people, especially black people...due to insensitive policies...I congratulate Kanye West."

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a Kanye West freak--love just about every single thing that he has done. And part of what makes him so special is that the dude says whatever is on his mind, no matter who the audience is or what the event is. However, this statement is just mind-boggling stupid. What policies is Sharpton talking about? Seriously? I challenge any reader to come up with a single policy that the Bush Administration has implemented that somehow, even indirectly, oppresses black people. ONE. Find it. And I am not saying that smugly, either. If there is one, I want to be educated on it. I want to oppose it. Thing is, I don't think that policy is out there. Say what you will about his policies--to say that the man "doesn't care about black people" is just insane. Where is the proof behind that? Does it lie with the fact that he has appointed more minorities and women to his cabinet than Clinton did in eight years? Or any president, for that matter? The argument against that (as a black friend of mine said) is that this is just "window dressing," or "a marketing plan." Well, isn't it better to have a president that INCLUDED minorities in his marketing plan? I don't know, it just doesn't make sense to me.

I also want to make clear that this is not some crazy, right-winged rant by me (as some will think). But for a man like Sharpton to go on national television and rant and rave on things that are basically without fact or merit is not something that should be tolerated by either side of the isle. Thankfully, according to polls conducted over the last couple of days, the majority of people on both sides of the isle don't see it this way, and (for now) aren't buying into the lies. As I have said before, the ball has been dropped at some point by everyone involved with this hell. But you have to be fair and call out people that say things as fact, when they are clearly dreamed up.

Also, I would highly recommend reading the timeline I eluded to in the middle of this. As they used to say on Dragnet, "just the facts, ma'am."

Forgot to mention this--some people in Lincoln are organizing a party called "Keep Mardi Gras Alive" for all the bars on O Street. They way they intend on raising money is to sell t-shirts for $5 a pop, plus every bar is going to donate either a percentage of their night's take or match their bartenders tips.

They are looking for donations from companies to put up money to print the t-shirts, so that ALL the proceeds from t-shirt sales can be sent straight to New Orleans.

If anyone wants to get involved or if their company would be interested in donating a hundred dollors or two, please let me know!

This is taken from the Drudge Report today. I think this is a truly shocking development, considering the "desperate SOS's" being called for by the mayor of New Orleans, state senators threatening violent action against the President (!), etc.

NEW ORLEANS FLASHBACK: OFFICALS WARNED RESIDENTS 'YOU'LL BE ON YOUR OWN'Mon Sep 05 2005 18:57:15 ETBefore residents had ever heard the words "Hurricane Katrina," the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE ran a story warning residents: If you stay behind during a big storm, you'll be on your own!Editors at TIMES-PICAYUNE on Monday called for every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired. In an open letter to President Bush, the paper said: "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame." But the TIMES-PICAYUNE published a story on July 24, 2005 stating: City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give a historically blunt message: "In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own."Staff writer Bruce Nolan reported some 7 weeks before Katrina: "In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation.""In the video, made by the anti-poverty agency Total Community Action, they urge those people to make arrangements now by finding their own ways to leave the city in the event of an evacuation."You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," Wilkins said in an interview. "If you have some room to get that person out of town, the Red Cross will have a space for that person outside the area. We can help you."Developing...

Now, I am certainly not saying that we should not have gotten more troops/Coast Guard/National Guard/etc in there sooner whatsoever. But, upon reading this, how on earth are these people acting so shocked this happened? They knew it would happen? And how this hasn't been reported on by anyone in the media is, well, I guess not shocking, but it should be.

So the question stands as this: how does someone become a mayor when he/she has no solutions to the city's problems? Because, it is becoming more and more clear, that is exactly who they have. "You're responsible for your safety..." is not a plan. That's code for "we don't have a got damned clue as to what to do in the event of a hurricane."

New Orleans is a great, great city. Easily one of my favorites (if not the favorite) that I have ever travelled to. But that is easily said being a sales guy that goes in and stays in the French Quarter. It takes all of five minutes of driving around there to see that there are some major problems there--it is a very poor and dirty city, once you get out of the tourist spots. I knew this by spending, at most, about four weeks worth of time there in my life. And this mayor, Ray Nagin, is running around with his head cut off not knowing that A) this could happen and B) why the government isn't there rescuing people is just beyond me. You told all these people that need rescued that they wouldn't be rescued! You had no plan in place to do anything about it! You had 10,000 buses that went unused and are now underwater! You wouldn't call for a required evacuation until Saturday, when everyone in the world knew that this could be the big one on Thursday! And now it is the Federal Government's fault?

I know there is problems from city to state to federal levels of government here. But when you have a city that is located in a 6-foot deep bowl, surrounded by water, computer-generated videos showing exactly what would happen in the evento of a hurricane (SIX YEARS AGO) and you don't have a plan as to what to do in the event of a giant hurricane....well, it takes the shock away from "I can't believe this happened" to "how are these people in office."

I've been meaning to post on Hurricane Katrina, but have been too busy. I will do so this weekend; however, for now, check out this headline. It comes from the NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE, FOR GOD'S SAKE:

Health workers to flood Gulf Coast, N.O. area

Are you trying to tell me that John Pope, the reporter who wrote this, couldn't come up with a word other than "flood"?!?!?