Race and Class

There is a great article in Slate that discusses the phenomenon of how the New Orleans crisis seems to have victims that are 99% black yet no TV broadcaster will so much as mention the subject. He writes: "Race remains largely untouchable for TV because broadcasters sense that they can't make an error without destroying careers. That's a true pity. If the subject were a little less taboo, one of last night's anchors could have asked a reporter, 'Can you explain to our viewers, who by now have surely noticed, why 99 percent of the New Orleans evacuees we're seeing are African-American? I suppose our viewers have noticed, too, that the provocative looting footage we're airing and re-airing seems to depict mostly African-Americans.'"

Missing

Fats Domino, 77, is missing in New Orleans.

He Has Some Good Tips If They Have to Pursue a Car In An Oval

At the Texas Motor Speedway yesterday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. assisted the Roanoke Police Department in training for high speed chases.

Speaking of Gas Prices . . .

any feedback on the average price of gas around Wise County on this the first day of September?

A One Day "Gas Out" In Response to the High Gas Prices

If I get another email asking me (and presumably millions of others) to "Participatie in 1-day boycott of gasoline" in September so oil companies will "choke on their stockpiles and bring down the price of gasoline", I might go crazy.

A Real Life "Escape From New York"

Are there "good" looters and "bad" looters?

Time Waste

Link. (Drag and drop for fun)

What Is This?

Photo.

Tombstone Building

If I could only engrave my own tombstone. Oh, wait, I can.

Random Thought About God

As I watched the Hurricane Katrina devastation (and thought about those girls who just happened to be named "Katrina"), I had these thoughts about God: (1) God created and caused the disaster to occur (but why?), (2) God watches the world and intervenes when he wants to but chose not to stop Katrina, (3) God has no control over the world and simply watches Katrina do her stuff, or (4) There is no ...[An alternative that has been censored in the Bible Belt]

I Didn't Know That . . .

. . . White people "find" while minorities "loot".

Thousands Dead?

AP - New Orleans - The mayor said Wednesday that Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans — an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm by far the nation's deadliest hurricane in more than a century. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands." And it looks like New Orleans is completely under water. Today, people are being told to "abandon" the city.

Like Sands Through An Hourglass

Debbie Gibson is 35 years old today.

Get Ready

A caller on WBAP's Mark Davis show this morning said he had just left Abilene and gas prices were $3.09 a gallon. With the hurricane coming through, I think we are about to get hit hard.

To The Astrodome

At least 25,000 of Hurricane Katrina's refugees, a majority of them at the New Orleans Superdome, will travel in a bus convoy to Houston starting Wednesday and will be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome. (Source)

Not The Best Photo Op Considering We Have A Natural Disaster Going On

"President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day. (AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz) "

648 Dead, 322 Hurt . . .

. . . not due to Katrina but in Bagdad. Some type of stampede on a bridge happened yesterday when "panic engulfed a Shiite religious procession amid rumors that a suicide bomber was about to attack".

Sin City

If you like movies that involve lots of blood, lots of gore, lots of weirdness, and a strange plot, you have to check out Sin City. It's Pulp Fiction and Desperado wrapped up in a cartoon that's not a cartoon. I loved it.