New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin gives an amazing interview to WWL about what’s really happening in his city, and the runaround he’s getting from both state and federal authorities, way up to the presidential level.

Such honesty in politics only comes from frustration and desperation at a level that can only come from a government that would rather focus on a militaristic barbaric foreign conquering policy than problems here at home.

“i’m probably gonna get in a whole bunch of trouble…we authorized 8 billion dollars to go to iraq lickety quick…after 9/11 we gave ther prez unprecedented powers Lickety Split … you mean to tell me that a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere in the world peoples eyes light up…thousands of people that have died thousands more that are dying…that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? come on man”

Listen to the interview here

Seriously. Listen to it.

And then donate some funds to the Red Cross. Whatever you can spare.

When are we going to do something about this disaster of an administration?

[via AskMeFi]

America We Stand As One 80s Guy With Bad Hair

Anyone else waiting for him to go right into “Oh Sherrie”?

Are they so blinded by this BS Terri Vegetable issue that they dont pay attention to other things that GWB is doing to screw us? The latest example: The new head of the Fish and Wildlife Service was also previously the chief lobbyist for something called Safari Club International, which is basically an organization dedicated to enabling hunters to put the heads of rare and exotic species of engandered animals on their walls.

To quote the Humane Society Press Release: “SCI members shoot prescribed lists of animals to win so-called Grand Slam and Inner Circle titles. There’s the Africa Big Five (leopard, elephant, lion, rhino, and buffalo), the North American Twenty Nine (all species of bear, bison, sheep, moose, caribou, and deer), Big Cats of the World, Antlered Game of the Americas, and many other contests.”

Of course, the official press release makes no mention of this tie.

Here’s a cool animated map of the political borders of the US from 1650-present [via SillyTech]

Hello and welcome, Bolt users!

Four things to say about this week: [IQ] [Education] [Shirt]. This all makes me miss our dear departed brother Bill Hicks even more. But to keep me sated, I found this mega-archive of unreleased BH stuff. You can really just replace one Bush with another in your mind.

In less (de)pressing news, my bud Lil Jon created a parodysalute to Russell Simmons’ Vote Or Die campaign (I mean seriously, is Paris Hilton in a shirt really going to sway anyone to vote? I mean other than voting her off the island of Manhattan, Survivor-stylee) called Crunk Or Die, hosted by my “friends” at my old gig, TVT Records.

Oh and in case you aint hurr, theres a new definition for Rock And Roll, and this creepy asian guy is it! Seriously, he’s got more skills than any 4 bands that play at rothko (Hi, Alex!)

In formerly-hot-people-falling apart news, we have the unfortunate inevitable beginnings of the sag of Joey Potter. Why oh why must people grow old!

Oh also, check out one-hit-wonder-but-actually-pretty-cool band Local H (who’s main claim to fame was getting the word ‘copacetic’ into a mainstream rock song)’s cover of Britney’s “Toxic” which proves once and for all that no matter whether your life is in the gutter and your body is falling apart and you’re giving blow jobs to your fiancee on your balcony, a good pop song is a good pop song.

And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s the Episode III trailer, which actually looks like it might not suck. (AOHell membership required). Of course its not as cool as the Grandaddy video which is like Polyphonic Spree on LSD, which is saying quite a bit. [thanks, fashionablylate!

Apropos of nothing, I’d like to close with a little anecdote. When I was working at TVT, my friend Tom and I used to share an office. We also both had Barry Manilow’s classic “Copa Cabana” on our respective computers. Come Fridays, we’d both be sitting hard at work or whatever and then with no warning one of us would start playing the song at maximum volume. And thats when we’d know that no more work was getting done.

Her name was Lola…she was a showgirl.

Woo. A whole bunch of randomness today.

First off, although I’m not in love with John Kerry, Duhbya has to be the worst public speaker in history. My grandma coulda done better, and she’s dead. Hey George, maybe you should look words like ’sovereignty’ up before using them, in case some reporter catches you on it and you end up sounding like an idiot. Well, at least it wasn’t a series of SNAFUs caught on tape and posted on the internet to be mocked for all eternity. Aaaand that’s all for politics, folks.

As Britney descends into total swamp trashdom, it appears she’s decided to get rid of her place just down the block from my old employers. Here’s some pics of the fancy pad she’s giving up. [Via curbed.com]

From the NSFW-but-not-quite-gratuitous-porn department, we have what must surely be a photoshoot from an upcoming Apple ad campaign. Perhaps she could use some of these iEverything-inspired butt plugs in her next one, just to really drive the point home. Hi mom!

In new music news, I’d like to echo allmusic.com’s sentiment regarding the new Dana Owens a.k.a. Queen Latifah record, in that the worst thing about it is it makes you sad that this is her first record where she sings all the way through. A versatile talent, this woman is. Except for the abomination that Taxi looks like. What were you thinking, Jimmy..What were you thinking.

If you’re a music journalist enlisted to review the new Interpol (I’m not a huge fan but people seem to like them), there’s a helpful article of 101 things to compare them to other than Joy Division. Get it? Cause people said they sounded like Joy Division before. And even though they do, people are sick of hearing that comparison. So, funny. heh.

From the “It’s 1 in the morning and I dont want to think of any other clever From The Desk Of lines” department, three random bits of information before I go enjoy my new stereo. The should-be-up-in-the-porn-paragraph-but-really-not-porn service Rasterbator will take jpgs and … well .. rasterize ‘em so you can print ‘em out real big. But really I just liked the name.

Distributor of all that is cool in the electronica world K7 has decided to put “Not Copy Protected” labels on all of their CDs. Kinda speaks for itself that they have this.

and we have this:

Okay so maybe it was only two things.

G’nite gracie.

People who vote without educating themselves on the candidates are scary, no matter who they are blindly voting for… but between Bush’s continued non-support of rebuilding new york, his abysmal education policies that ‘leave behind’ all but the wealthiest districts, and force teachers to educate toward aptitude tests dictated by the state rather than truly educating children to think for themselves, to his backward closed minded and currently unconstitutional proposal to exclude a signifant proportion of people from being able to express their love for each other, to his constant reposturing about the mistakes made in Iraq, a war that lacked actual cause that was never shared with the American people, and that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks (where’s Osama Bin Laden), and his cabinet’s ridiculous infringements on civil liberties.

I’d rather take my chances with someone who’s educational policies are not so test-oriented and who admits that the government shanghaied us in the Iraq war for their own gains than have four more years of this almost police state.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

I am, as always, open to educated counter-arguments

j

In case you didn’t already know, George Dubya Don’t Play. (originally via in8.com which appears to no longer exist.)
If that doesn’t get your goat (whatever that means), you can watch the new mediocre Prodigy video, a part of the new mediocre Prodigy record, other than that track that rips “Thriller”

In case you missed it, the two most impressive speeches of the DNC (in my humble opinion)

The self-proclaimed Skinny Guy With A Funny Name (But one hell of a speaker… He must’ve clinched his nomination with this one) Barack Obama
Part 1:

Part 2:

And, of course, former prez Clinton never disappoints

from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/30/sports/baseball/30pins.html , but to spare you the login process

Cheney Pays Visit to Stadium
By TYLER KEPNER

Published: June 30, 2004

Vice President Dick Cheney spent about 20 minutes in Manager Joe Torre’s office and in the clubhouse shaking hands with players before the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 11-3, last night at Yankee Stadium.

Cheney studied the photographs inside and outside Torre’s office and asked Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher, why he was playing the outfield in one picture. Cheney started watching the game from the private box of the Yankees’ principal owner, George Steinbrenner, switched to a seat beside the Yankees’ dugout for a few innings, then returned to Steinbrenner’s box.

Advertisement

“I told him before the game I hope he brings us more good luck than he brings them,” Torre said. “It’s great any time a dignitary like that visits. It slaps you with pride.”

During the singing of “God Bless America” in the seventh inning, an image of Cheney was shown on the scoreboard. It was greeted with booing, so the Yankees quickly removed the image.

-via [Choire Sicha]