Katrina Commentary

I know I'm two days late with this, but here it is my commentary regarding the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As heard on the August 31, 2007, edition of WPRB NEWS PRESENTS THE WEEK IN REVIEW.

Many of you already know that this past Wednesday was the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. If you got a chance to watch the television news or picked up a newspaper, it’s almost guaranteed that you saw the images of the destruction the storm caused. As I sat in front of a television set that morning, I saw President Bush hold a news conference at a school in the Lower Ninth Ward. At some point during his speech, he said something to effect of, “I understand what you are going through. The people in Washington not from Louisiana understand what you are going through.” I nearly lost it at that point, but I bit my tongue and put my thoughts in this commentary.

President Bush and the bureaucrats in the District of Columbia have no idea how bad the situations the people of New Orleans have had to endure. If he did, he never would have told “Brownie” (for the uninitiated, former FEMA director Michael Brown) that he was “doing a heck of a job.” If Bush really knew what New Orleans was suffering through in those first few days, he would have sent aid to those stuck in shelters of last resort and more troops than he did to New Orleans to restore law and order. If the other people running the nation in Washington knew what the people of New Orleans needed, they would have put pork-barrel projects aside to make sure that the levees that protected the nation’s second-largest port—the fourth-largest in the world—were strong enough to hold the storm surge that eventually caused the flooding of eighty percent of the city. Unfortunately, the politicians that have represented the State of Louisiana in Washington for the past fifty or so years failed their constituencies and allowed their personal gains to trump the needs of the state.

Despite all that needs to be fixed in New Orleans, there are other place often ignored the mainstream media that also need repair. Before I saw coverage from Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian, Mississippi, I thought the big boys of news forgot that Mississippi took the brunt of Katrina’s wrath. (Remember that it wasn’t the wind and rain that messed up New Orleans. It was the break in the levees.) These two towns, as well as others along the Mississippi Gulf Coast were obliterated and are in the process of rebuilding. Because these towns don’t have tales of high murder rates and looting, their stories get pushed by the wayside in favor of the juicy details of the goings-on in New Orleans. These towns need help as well. These towns need their former residents to come back and to rebuild if they haven’t done so already, but FEMA or some other federal government agency should help out as well. If the government can afford to give subsidies to farmers, it can certain help pay for rebuilding efforts of those living in Mississippi and Louisiana two years ago and want to return home.

A week or so after Katrina hit, President Bush stood in a darkened Jackson square and said of New Orleans, “This great city shall rise again.” He also said this past Wednesday during his speech that better days are ahead of New Orleans. If this is the case, the federal government and those that represent us in that government need to wake up and recognize the problems that plagued New Orleans before Katrina and fix them immediate—the levees, in particular. If the government fails to do this, then this great city, the State of Louisiana, and possibly this nation may suffer a fate no American could possibly imagine.

BUSH USES FOUR-SYLLABLE WORD IN NEW ORLEANS

I haven't been awake for five minutes, and I've already heard Dubya use a four-syllable word. I'm not sure if he used it in the right context (I missed how he used it), but he rattled off "disaggregate," which he described as "a fancy word."

Additionally, Bush says he and the other people in government not from Louisiana understand what the Gulf Coast (New Orleans in particular) is going through. What a load of crap! Hell, the politicos representing Louisiana in Washington don't know what's going on down here half of the time. If they did, the money that was allocated to strengthen the levees would have been used for that purpose instead of being used to fund PORK PROJECTS. Brownie sure as hell didn't do a heck of a job, and our governments--local, state, and federal--aren't doing much better.

More on this later today as we observe the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Why Can't One-Fifth of Americans Find the U.S. on a Map?

According to Miss Teen South Carolina, this is the reason why.



Congratulations, Miss Teen South Carolina! You've just earned yourself an IDIOT OF THE MONTH nomination.

Alberto Gonzales Resigns; Michael Vick Pleads Guilty

Only Ten Hours in, and It's Already a Big News Day! Michael Vick entered his guilty plea in federal court about an hour ago. For those of you that missed it, Vick agreed to plead guilty to interstate trafficking of a dogfighting operation but will maintain his innocence in actually betting on fights or killing the dogs despite being present for fights and killings.

In other news, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has announced his resignation. Some reports are confirming that President Bush has accepted the resignation. A press conference will be held later this afternoon confirming Gonzales's quitting.

These stories and more will be featured this Friday on WPRB's TIMEOUT (5:00 P.M EDT) and THE WEEK IN REVIEW (5:30 P.M. EDT) on 103.3 WPRB-FM and at wprb.com.

UPDATE NUMBER 1: Vick to speak to reporters at 11:30 EDT (10:30 CDT, 5:30 Hawaiian). Falcons owner Arthur Blank will hold a press conference at 12:30 EDT (11:30 CDT, 6:30 HST).

GREAT ALEX TREBEK CLIP

Those of you out there in the blogosphere know I love game shows. As much as I love JEOPARDY! and respect Alex Trebek, I find it hard NOT to post this clip. Having gone through this myself, I can attest that it was probably a long day in the office/studio for the "man with the action."

Enjoy!

FORMER PRINCETON BASKETBALL COACH DEAD AT 84

Former Princeton men's basketball coach Willem "Butch" van Breda Kolff died in a Spokane, Washington nursing home yesterday at the age of 84. van Breda Kolff coached future Senator Bill Bradley during his tenure at Princeton, which included winning four Ivy League championships. His son Jan became a successful player and coach in his own right.

For more, see ESPN's article, or check out Princeton Basketball News , run by our friend, the one and only Jon Solomon.

Are You 4Real?!

The title of this post says it all. If you haven't heard this story already, check it out. Thanks to Nick "Chuck Norris" Mayon for the hat tip. To see the original article, click here .

If you want to see a the television presentation of this story, click here .

Here is the condensed version of the story presented today on WPRB NEWS PRESENTS THE WEEK IN REVIEW earlier today.

Just when you thought you’ve heard every bad baby name you could possibly hear, some people in New Zealand came up with another one. The name was so out there, even the New Zealand government banned the parents, Pat and Sheena Wheaton, from registering it on their child’s birth certificate. The baby’s name is 4REAL. Let me spell that out for you. Numeral four-R-E-A-L. 4REAL. Right now, you’re probably asking yourself how in the world did these parents come up with this name. The answer is simple—so simple we couldn’t make this stuff up. The Wheatons decided upon the name when they saw the ultrasound and the father exclaimed “FOR REAL!” The proud parents decided that the aforementioned spelling was the best way to word the child’s odd name. The New Zealand Office of the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages rejected the name on the basis that no name could have numeral in it. The Wheatons are appealing the decision, but for the time being, their two-month old baby (yes, he’s 4Real) a temporary name. It’s not Bird, it’s not Plane, IT’S SUPERMAN!

WHEEL OF FORTUNE & JEOPARDY MARATHONS THIS WEEKEND ON GSN

For those of you that missed it, GSN will run marathons of WHEEL OF FORTUNE and JEOPARDY! this weekend in honor of the late Merv Griffin. WHEEL will run tomorrow from 9:00 A.M. CDT until 3:00 P.M. CDT. Episodes shown will include an early Chuck Woolery daytime program and Vanna White's first episode from December 13, 1982. The JEOPARDY! marathon will consist of episodes from 2002's Million Dollar Masters tournament.

This game show fan's dream has come true, but he'll be on a softball field during the marathons.

BONDS DOES IT (FINALLY)

Barry Bonds just hit Home Run number 756!!!!!!!

Official particulars of the HR 756:

Barry Bonds (OF), #25
San Francisco Giants
August 7, 2007--21:52 PDT
Location: San Francisco, AT&T Park
Opposing Pitcher: Mike Bacsik
Opposing Team: Washington Nationals
Inning: Bottom 5th
Distance of Home Run: 435 feet

What did we learn from this home run chase?

1) Most of everyone outside of San Francisco thinks the record now is tainted.
2) Henry Aaron probably is the classiest elder statesman in all of sports (if you missed his taped congratulations speech, you missed a heartwarmer)
3) Bud Selig's silence shows he thinks Bonds is guilty of juicing.
4) Bonds put people in the stands despite the fact the Giants are dead last in the NL West.

Anything else I missed? Let me know.

First Saints Preseason Game (update)

Jon Solomon caught my error before I did, so I can't cover up my mistake.

Hall of Fame Game--Canton, Ohio

Pittsburgh: 20
New Orleans: 7

Saints Preseason Record: 0-1-0
Next Game: Friday, August 10 vs. Buffalo

First Saints Preseason Game

Hall of Fame Game--Canton, Ohio

Pittsburgh: 27
New Orleans: 7

Saints Preseason Record: 0-1-0
Next Game: Friday, August 10 vs. Buffalo

This Morning's Republican Debate

I caught some of this morning's debate between the Republican Party's presidential candidates, and I must say I am really unimpressed with what I saw. Can't these guys be a little more original? I'm tired of hearing about these guys spew the same crap all other members of the GOP throw out. Don't talk about family values and all of this other warm, fuzzy crap. Although I'm sure you have good intentions for this nation with your imposing your values upon the everyone (David Vitter, anyone?), cut to the chase and tell me something that is relevant and/or true about this country and why you can run this country better than the people currently in office. As far as I'm concerned, the only two people that managed to do this today were Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Rudy, McCain, Romney, and the rest of the hopefuls could take a page from these two gentlemen.