Let’s hear it for Jimmy Carter, who secured the release of Aijalon Gomes from North Korea. Republican Presidents piss the world off, and Democratic ex-Presidents smooth things over. I guess. Though I suppose the North Koreans aren’t quite as endeared to Harry Truman as we all are.
In other exciting news, my new Kindle has yet to ship, but is expected to ship today and be delivered Monday. I’m rather looking forward to getting it. There are a boatload of free books available for it, and there are ways, to, um convert other books that are out there to a Kindle-readable format. I’d been resistant to the whole e-reader thing, but it looks like the Kindle 3 is a winner, and I’m looking forward to getting back to reading something other than reference books again.
But I guess the most exciting news (from my perspective, anyway) is that, pending the results of the inspection, which is now my only ‘out,’ it looks like we bought a house. Thank goodness for the shitty housing market and low interest rates, ‘cuz I’d never be able to afford this (let alone be willing to actually shell out the bucks) otherwise. On the dark side, though, I’ll really miss my brand new appliances, and I won’t be able to quit my job anytime soon (not for at least 15 years, anyway). Good thing I don’t work for USA Today.
Oh well, time to get my act together and close out this week.
:billcat:
It’s :boobs: Friday
Congratulations PJ and RG. Enjoy that new house.
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Ed Schultz Blows a Gasket?
:omg: 😡 :rant1:
Finally!
In the days after Hurricane Katrina left much of New Orleans in flooded ruins, the city was awash in tales of violence and bloodshed.
The narrative of those early, chaotic days — built largely on rumors and half-baked anecdotes — quickly hardened into a kind of ugly consensus: poor blacks and looters were murdering innocents and terrorizing whoever crossed their path in the dark, unprotected city.
snip
Today, a clearer picture is emerging, and it is an equally ugly one, including white vigilante violence, police killings, official cover-ups and a suffering population far more brutalized than many were willing to believe. Several police officers and a white civilian accused of racially motivated violence have recently been indicted in various cases, and more incidents are coming to light as the Justice Department has started several investigations into civil rights violations after the storm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27racial.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=us
Really?
Yeah, Sue, isn’t that a kick in the head? That was unintentional but I instantly realized it could be seen as a bad pun. NOLa cops can be the ugliest there are. Add all of the stress and chaos from those days and you have a recipe for disater within a disaster.
I am hoping to attend a one night only screening on August 30 of Harry Shearer’s documentary “The Big Uneasy”. Of course it will be available after that but it seems like a good way to say something.
Mississippi is quite a place, too.
I drove though Mississippi only once. NY plates and peace signs didn’t seem to endear us to the local constabulary. Made me very glad to get back to NY.
pj & RG,
It sounds great. Are you selling the old place or keeping it?
You gonna become chicken ranchers?
Double post!
:jesus: 🙁 :gate: