gloom n doom blog

Reality
"Telling people to watch this show in some ways seems dishonest to me. 'Watch this show: I disintegrate.' Why would I want to do that?"

That’s Danny Bonaduce, in the New York Times, on his reality series on VH1, BREAKING BONADUCE. In one episode, he chugs a quart of vodka in one gulp. Off-camera, he also slit his wrists. Mr. Bonaduce claims that the appeal of the show is that it’s about "a B-lister who might die."

Danny chugs, gets teevee time. Batboy chugs, gets suspended.
From the Associated Press:
“Florida Marlins batboy Nick Cirillo says he's still not sure why the team suspended him for six games, although he knows it had something to do with milk.

“Cirillo, 19, was working last month in the visitors' clubhouse when he accepted a dare from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny. A former Marlins pitcher, Penny offered $500 if Cirillo could drink a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up.

“Cirillo said he drank the milk in 59 minutes but then vomited outside the clubhouse, so he didn't collect the money. The episode prompted the Marlins to suspend Cirillo throughout this week's homestand, but also earned him an invitation to appear Thursday on THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN.”

Sign on an oriental rug store in New Orleans
Don’t try it. I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns, and a claw hammer.

What Condi was doing last Wednesday.
While on vacation in New York, The New York Daily News reported, “Rice attended a performance of Spamalot at the Shubert Theater. Earlier in the day… Rice went shoe shopping at Ferragamo on Fifth Avenue.”

From gawker.com
"What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes . . . A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, ‘How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!’ Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman."

Without HER thousand dollar shoes, I assume.

What President Bush said.
In Mobile, Alabama, he said to FEMA Director Michael Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

What Michael Brown said:
Of the possibly thousands dead, he told CNN: "Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings."

The people without cars or money?

"I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans,"

What President Bush said:
Noting that Trent Lott’s home in Pascagoula, Mississippi had been destroyed, he promised that it will be re-built better than it was before: “There's going to be a fantastic house, and I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

And who can not fail to be moved by such a speech?

The President in Biloxi
From Tagesschau, a German television program. Christine Adelhardt was the reporter.
Rescue teams and their vehicles supposedly showed up in an area that had been vacated for days.

"Two minutes ago the President drove by with his convoy. What happened here in Biloxi during the day is really unbelievable. All of a sudden the rescue troops finally showed up, the clean-up vehicles; we didn't see those over the last days here. In an area where it really isn't urgent, there is nobody around, all the remaining people went to the city center. The President is traveling with a press convoy, so they get wonderful pictures saying the president was here and the help will follow. The amount of this catastrophe shocked me, but the amount of set-up that happened here today is at least equally shocking for me.”

What Michael Chertoff said.
On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told NPR that he had “not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don’t have food and water.” What, he doesn’t have a television?

What Bush said in New Orleans.
“You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute, but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen. I understand the devastation requires more than one day's attention. It's going to require the attention of this country for a long period of time. …

“And I look forward to continuing to work with the governor and the mayor and the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to do our duty to help the good folks of this part of the world get back on their feet.”

He flew out of there in a minute, leaving the good folks in that part of the world to ponder his stirring words.

What Bush further said in New Orleans.
“Here's what I believe: I believe that the great city of New Orleans will rise again and be a greater city of New Orleans. I believe the town where I used to come -- from Houston, Texas, to enjoy myself, occasionally too much -- will be that very same town, that it will be a better place to come to. That's what I believe.”

So New Orleans will be re-built because it’s a great place to get drunk? I think that’s true, but it’s not a very Presidential thing to say.

Final remarks by our President:
May God bless the people of this part of the world.

Gloom and doom: fromthewildernes.com
“I think it’s quite likely that the Bush administration is responding so ineptly in part because it is in a complete crisis mode realizing that the entire United States is on the brink of collapse and there’s very little they can do about it.”