Thousands Dead in Indonesia, Millions of Americans Yawn on Cue

About 6,000 people perished in the quake in Indonesia last week, and almost 700,000 have been displaced from their homes. I know it's not as "exciting" as a tsunami, but my God, can't the media get it up for a disaster where thousands perish anymore? It's just sad.

I know we Americans have a lot going on in our busy, over-scheduled lives, but I swear, if it's not in our own backyard, we could give a shit. Well, when whatever it is we import from Indonesia stops coming to a Wal-mart near you, maybe a few people will get upset.

Meanwhile, how many lines of copy will Katie get this week?

PS Here's a link to an article I wrote about the Sudan. At least it's getting some press coverage these days.

Breaking News About ME

Well I did it. I put in my notice. After a harrowing two weeks at the office, I decided, why put off tomorrow what you can do today.

"What will you do?" you want to know. Well, I hope to have a part-time gig lined up at Brady (right Steve?) while I continue the search in Austin. Who says you can't go home again?

Thanks for all the support and advice. Keep it coming!

A song (good timing Annette) in honor of my departure.

This Just In...

Finally! Lay and Skilling are found guilty of conspiracy and fraud. Small consolation I'm sure to all the ex-Enron employees who lost their life savings in the implosion, but still, must be a little satisfying.

Of course, I'm sure they'll both appeal and keep themselves out of jail for a few more years. But I predict they're both going down! Eventually!

Sippin' Tips from the Experts

I know it's only Wednesday, but you need to start practicing now for the weekend.

As you head out this weekend to your happy hours, your TGIF parties, your assorted to-dos, take some handy sign language tips with you to help you communicate with your fellow imbibers.

Cheers!

You call the shot. I will follow you to tequila hell my captain.

Chicks Getting Demoted, Promoted, and Goaded

The Vargas/Woodruff co-anchor team had bad luck from the start. Now that Woodruff is recovering from a bomb attack in Iraq, and Vargas is preggers, the ABC higher-ups have decided to put...what?...why, it's an old white man in the anchor seat. Ole Charlie Gibson will leave GMA to do the evening news and Liz will go back to her old job at 20/20. I know hosting a news magazine show is nothing to sneeze at, but c'mon! Give the gal a chance. Alas, the ratings gods have spoken, and Liz has been Mommy tracked. So long, E., we hardly knew ye.

But...

Yay! The Dixie Chicks finally made another album, and so far as I can tell, it's a good'un. I've always liked them, and I liked them even more after Natalie mouthed off about Bush and even more when they didn't apologize and even MORE now that they've put their pissed-off-ness to music I can sing along to in my car. Me likey.

And Most Importantly...

Poor Kat McPhee. She's going to get stomped by a strange pre-maturely grey Elvis impersonator. I really want her to win, but not enough to spend my hard-earned moolah on voting for her. So long Kat McPhee, we hardly knew ye either. But I suspect we'll see you soon...doing a Sketchers ad.

Nagin Re-elected

Well, he's got another chance to lead the city of New Orleans towards its new identity. What the new face of New Orleans will be, remains to be seen. One thing is certain, it's going to be smaller. Most of the city's population hasn't even come back, and many never will.

I don't think Landrieu had much of a chance in this race, but Nagin made so many mistakes during and after Katrina - Is he really the best person for this job? Speaking of race, not suprisingly the votes were split along racial lines. 80% of whites voted for Landrieu and 80% of blacks for Nagin. Maybe it's the comfort factor. The devil you know is better than the one you don't. I hope Nagin's optimism can translate into real progress for the Crescent City.

Cats In Racks

I love this Cute Overload site. (Link at right) They somehow manage to make it cool to look at cute pictures of baby animals. Here's your TGIF pic. Wow, that's quite a set of pillows this kitty has found! Have a great weekend!

Hung King of 'Chokes

When will this guy ever go away?? William Hung, of horrible singing on American Idol and beyond fame, was crowned the Artichoke King of Castorville, following in the foosteps of greats like Marilyn Monroe. O, to go from Marilyn to Hung. That's quite a slide down the celebrity food chain. Congrats, Castorville, you did yourself proud.


My 15 minutes is sooooo up!

Something Fishy

I love it when people find special symbolism in everyday objects. Like when someone tried to sell a piece of toast on E-bay that had what looked like an image of Justin Timberlake burned into it. Or when the virgin Mary shows up in a potato chip bag. Well in Kenya, a Koranic message was discovered on the side of a tuna fish! The fish seemingly carried an Arabic verse within its scales something akin to "You are the best provider." How apropos.

What an amazing, spiritual message meant to be shared with as many people as possible! Too bad someone had other ideas. The sacred fish has been stolen by people posing as museum officials interested in putting it on display.

Ah well. Guess folks will have to keep an eye out for another sign in their bowls of soup or puddles of mud or whatever. God works in mysterious ways.

Holy Mackerel!

Repubs Popularity with Public Wanes

Yipers. People don't like our Republican leaders right now. But they don't love the Dems either. In fact, the running theme these days in polling seems to be "Anybody else but you Yahoos." But Repubs bear the brunt of the dissatisfaction obviously because they are the ones in power. Most people polled these days think Dems can do a better job on issues such as immigration, the economy, health care, and gas prices. If they get elected, we shall see. Politicians are a strange, shape-shifting breed. I have faith in the political system, but not a lot of faith in politicians. But I hope for a good outcome in November. I've had enough of the Yahoos in DC too.

Congratulate Me! I'm Pre-pregnant!

This is a new way to look at life before the youngin's start popping out. The CDC is recommending all women of child-bearing age treat themselves as pre-pregnant whether they plan to have children or not. The idea being treating yourself as pre-pregnant is a healthy way to live: not smoking, taking folic acid, maintaining a healthy weight, etc. And of course if you get pregnant and don't know it, you could be doing damage to the fetus with your smokin' and boozin'.

Makes sense I guess. Half of all pregnancies are unplanned according to the article. Still, there's something creepy about preparing for Baby when you don't know when or if Baby's ever going to come.

Anyway, it's good advice to be sure. But as Alice said, I often give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.

Miscellany

Here are a few stories that have caught my eye over the last few days...

Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted
No major news source has picked this up so I'm not sure if it's true or not but if it is...woohoo!


Kinky Friedman has thrown his big black hat into the ring for Governor of Texas. Now that's one of the best reasons I've come up with so far to go back to the Republic. So I can say I "Voted for Kinky."

Can we have the Assault Weapons Ban back now??

VA has most vanity plates in the country. I knew it!
Favorite plates of the week: BECAUSE and WHATEVER
Least favorite on West VA plate: FUTR CEO What a jackass.


Finally, OMG, is Izzy leaving Grey's Anatomy? Say it ain't so. She crazy but I love her!

Bush Knows About You and the 900 Numbers

Well I’ll be. USA Today broke a story and it’s got Congress all up in arms.

The report says the admisintration has been collecting data and tracking Americans’ calling habits in the hopes of identifying Joe Bob from Weehawken as a potential terrorist. Both Dems and Repubs are none too happy with this explanation, citing privacy issues, civil rights violations, and questions of illegality of the entire program.

Senator Specter says he’s going to call up a few phone companies and see if he can get to the bottom of all this. Good luck getting through the voicemail systems Senator. “For information on alleged eavesdropping by your country’s leaders, please press 1…”

But Bush and his NSA buddies swear they’re not listening into anyone’s conversations, at least not without the proper warrants. But they still know who we’re calling and when…

The Times article disclosing the data mining program last December quoted officials in the government and the telecommunications industry who have knowledge of parts of the program as saying the N.S.A. has sought to analyze communications patterns to glean clues from details like who is calling whom, how long a phone call lasts and what time of day it is made, and the origins and destinations of phone calls and e-mail messages.

Yikes. No more 1-900-HOT-DUDE for me.


Suck it America. I’ll listen to ya’ll calls if I won’t to!

Man Washes Naughty Bits, Declares Himself Safe from AIDS

Never mind the fact that the deputy president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was aquitted this week of raping a family friend who is HIV-positive. I have my doubts that this encounter was consensual, but I'm almost as disturbed by what he testified at the trial.

This man, who was poised to become the next president and may still be (he seems to have come out of the whole affair rather unscathed), testified under oath that he took a shower after having unprotected sex to help reduce his risk of contracting the disease. In a country with the highest rate of HIV-positive citizens IN THE WORLD, where many people believe AIDS is all a big hoax anyway, he might as well have said people could jump out of a plane without a parachute and survive the fall. As long as they have their toothbrush with them of course.

Many of South Africa's leaders have voiced skepticism about AIDS, its causes, and its cures. Zuma is not alone. But it boggles the mind that he can honestly get away with such ignorance and irresponsibility. I hope no one was listening.

Thank God Matt Damon is around to set the record straight.

No, We Have No Bananas

Cheers to the best quote of the week from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Darfur peace talks have resulted in a tenative accord between the Sudanese government and the rebel groups who have gone on a three-year long genocidal rampage in the region, displacing millions of refugees and killing and raping thousands more. There were many diplomats and mediators at the table for the talks, but Obasanjo sealed the deal in the end.

From the Washington Post:

In the final hours, Obasanjo played a pivotal role, participants said. Though not a tall man, he has an imposing presence, and he repeatedly pressed the rebels to accept the amendments crafted by Zoellick and Benn. "Obasanjo knew how to cajole, bully and flatter," de Waal said.

The Sudanese government suddenly wanted to fly Bashir {the Sudanese president] to the [signing] ceremony, but Obasanjo would not risk any delays. He pulled a banana off the table, peeled it, split it in two and rubbed both parts in the dirt, saying that in Nigeria if you give a monkey a banana it will do that so you do not take the banana back.

"This is my banana, and I'm not letting you take it back," he told the Sudanese envoy.

One only hopes that this accord will do some good since so many people have suffered for so long.

A Stumble on the Road to Success

I must admit to being a little bit gleeful when I read about this little Harvard hot stuff's fall from grace. (And yes, that makes me a vindictive, envious troll.) I'm sure Ms. Viswanathan is a very talented young woman. You'd have to be to get published at 19 right? Or maybe not. Maybe you're just good at regurgitating things you've already read in a fun new package.

Actually, I haven't read any of her stuff, so I can't judge. And there's no doubt that it's possible to internalize other people's writing, especially when you admire it. But just because I like Falkner doesn't mean I'm going to spit out a paragraph Benjy-style. I hope this is a lesson to all the other 17-year-olds who are about to get book deals. Be careful what you crib from. A lot of people will want to see you take a fall.

Her fellow Harvardites are none too happy.

A Near Dead Kennedy

You know, I have to echo a friend's sentiments from last week when this story first broke. You gotta feel a little sorry for the guy. I mean his two uncles are murdered, his Dad drove his car into a lake with another PERSON INSIDE, and didn't another one of those Kennedys run into a tree and die skiing? Bizarre! Cursed! Screwed!

So it's no wonder Patrick Kennedy can't seem to straighten up and fly right. It's no secret to anyone who hangs out on the Hill how often the Congressman is seen out and about, always with a few drinks under his belt and more to come. But wouldn't you dull the pain of being in such a dysfunctional family too? Oh admit it, you already do do that.

But Patrick Kennedy's accident isn't going to win him any pity points with the public, even with his Ambien Defense, precisely because he is a Kennedy. Why no breathalizer test? No arrest? Privelege is his way of life, it goes unsaid. It's when it's laid bare for all of us non-Kennedys to see that it becomes unacceptable special treatment.

Good luck in rehab buddy!

Memoirial

You can say au revoir to the memoir as we know it. Everyone and their uncle's written one and, don't get me wrong, they've been a favorite genre of mine for a long time. But now that Frey's fried and the market is glutted with whimsical tales of a man and his dog and other yarns about...well...nothing much, I think it's time to get back to some good ole fashioned untrue stories (that aren't marketed as fact). I mean yeah, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, but sometimes, it ain't. And frankly, I just don't care about you as much as I care about me. So if anyone wants to write a story about MY life, I'm all eyes/ears. Otherwise, shut the hell up.

One prophetic guy who agrees with me.

Summer Approacheth

I have a love/hate relationship with summer. On the one hand, I do like that the grey of winter is long gone, and, maybe it's a holdover from childhood, but somehow it seems like everyone's a little bit more relaxed. And in DC, that means you can leave work at 5 instead of 7 and not feel bad about it. But I have to say, summer hasn't done for me like I'd hoped these last few years. It's let me down a few too many times. And I hate wearing shorts! There, I said it. Summer '04 was going to be great! I declared on May 30th that it would be the best summer ever! I also declared it Martini Summer. That was not a good idea. Some of the worst headaches of my life and nothing really to show for it. Last summer I decided to hedge my bets and not declare it anything and it wasn't. Anything. Special. I don't know what I expect from summer. It's just a few short months where people generally wear less clothes and get sunburns. But still, I'm optimistic about this one. New things are on the horizon. Something better is just around the bend. This is going to be the Best Summer Ever!

Maybe if I were still this age, I'd like summer better.



OK, last summer did have some nice moments.

Inauguration Day

Greetings to no one in particular. Today is the day I start my blog. No, now, keep calm. I know it's overwhelming to at last have the ability to peruse the inner workings of my mind day after day, but I think you can handle it. My intention is to use this space to examine the unexamined, turn the unturned stone, and inform the uninformed. Right now though, I just need to bask in the glorious birth of this thought portal. In the meantime, go here. We'll chat later.