Bama Folks: Who is This Guy?

I am probably the last one to have read this but, Underneath Their Robes is reporting that W. Keith Watkins has been nominated to replace Judge Albritton. Clerks: What's his story?

Grappling with the Hard Issues

A new reader to this blog (and my other blog The Union Lawyer) asked two very good questions:

1. Is it "to wit" or is it "to whit"?

2. Where does the kerfuffle over Flightplan fit in these blogs? Who gets first blogging rights to it?

These are pretty hard hitting questions. The answers:

1. "To wit". In the future, I will be more careful with my idiomatic toss-offs.

2. I think the Flightplan boycott discussion belongs in this blog, if it belongs anywhere. I feel this way for a couple of reasons. It's celebrity news, so unless it concerns Sandra Feldman's passing, then The Union Lawyer probably won't blog about it. And Sandra Feldman, godresthersoul, was not really a celebrity. The other reason is, this boycott is annoying. (Sub-reason: I like Jodie Foster.) People can tell the difference between real flight attendants and fake-ass flight attendants in a movie, and flight attendants should not getting all heroic over nothing, i.e. this movie. This boycott does nothing to illuminate the labor struggles of workers in the airline industry (which are legion) and everything to (a) publicize this movie and (b) make the flight attendants' union look like they are pitching a fit til their next order of bon-bons arrives. Not that I think flight attendants eat bon-bons or anything (although a publicized boycott of this website might get it some actual readers), but you can well picture the scene.

I would just note that labor lawyers did not boycott Enemy of the State, even though Will Smith was a labor lawyer in that movie (okay, so he was the good guy), and his labor lawyer bosses and clients were protrayed as weak or mafioso. I recognize that my point is not well-made by this comparison. But I recommend this tagline from Enemy of the State to the Flight Attendants: "It's not paranoia if they're really after you."

In the case of the Flightplan boycott, I say this: Flight attendants: they are not after you; it's paranoia.

Sorry to Harsh Your Mellow

In case you were feeling all giddy from Tom DeLay's Recent Unpleasantness, here's a few questions from Mike Davis about what the hell happened in New Orleans. Thanks, Dunes. If you are not already familiar with Mike Davis, read Ecology of Fear or City of Quartz. That way you won't have to hear me blather on about him if the topic of Los Angeles ever comes up between us.

This Should Make Your Day!

Ding dong, the Witch has been indicted. Buh-bye, Tom DeLay.



DeLay's indictment has the same pigs-can-fly-in-frozen-hell feel to it as the news that a giant squid has finally been photographed.

My Brain Seeped Out of My Ear

Thank you, Kimi Peck, for your efforts. Now, formerly homeless Chihuahuas can distinguish themselves on the fields of glory, competing for the World's Fastest Chihuahua.

What's your problem, Dre? You are probably wondering. Frankly, I don't have an answer to that question.

From Beyond the Watery Remains

Allen! Greetings from New Orleans. Suze and I have for the most part been enjoying ourselves. We had one glitch the other night getting help up outside this divey 9th ward joint called Vaughn's. The kid couldn't have been more than 13, the gun he was pointing at us looked older. Anyway, it's nothing a few sazeracs won't cure. Southern hospitality does exist, provided you don't get shot first. TaTa Rich

This site, Greetings From New Orleans, is a great fake "found art" project that y'all should check out. Pre-K, this guy made 99 postcards, wrote out stuff on the back (addressed to an address in Ohio), put a stamp on them and "lost" them all over New Orleans. 47 of the cards were helpfully put in mailboxes by their finders, and the artist has put his cards up. Normally Mardi Gras photography is a genre that annoys the living sh*t out of me, but under the present circumstances, these are quite striking. Enjoy.

This is Just Good for a Quick Chuckle

McSweeney's article today on G.W.'s unqualified successes in office so far.

Speaking Truth to Power

Here's one of the more reasonable letters appearing in the Montgomery Advertiser today:

I would like to know how a official in an Arabian horse association was chosen by the administration as the head of FEMA, and if there were any connections with Saudi Arabian oil contacts and the administration governing his obvious political appointment. I think a full investigation is needed to find out why the president approved this selection. John Crookston Montgomery

The rest of the letters are so nonsensical that I can't even summarize their main points. But I do like the Bright Idea that Arabian horses and Saudi oil interests aligned to get "Brownie" his job at FEMA.

More Slow News Day Photos

Like a slow news day on Channel 7, I fill the void with human interest footage. I don't have the video of the squirrel on the waterskis or anything. Instead here are some pix from Fireman Doodle. And I don't know what's up with the blue font. Sorry.

I Finally Figured Out Links

Notice that I managed to navigate the sophisticated underbelly of this program to include links, so if you have one, let me know, and I'll add it.

Can Someone From Montgomery Please Tell Me What's Going On??

I earlier posted that liberals were at the helm at The Montgomery Advertiser during Katrina. But apparently the change is permanent in the cartoon editorial department (assuming such a department exists). Or folks are getting really pissed. I know Bobby Bright is, and not in a good way. He's advocating that folks arm themselves, probably against the evacuees that landed in Mongum'ry.

Tales Too Amazing to Be Fiction

Thanks to Pooplatter, I was steered to this DailyKos bit'o'brilliance. Check it out.

The Truth about Those Roberts' Kids

BlameBush! has this awesome piece about those wacky Roberts' kids. It does stoke my theory that Jack has a bit of the Ron Reagan about him. Since I guess bloggers are supposed to constantly credit one another so that their Blog Shares go up: Thanks, UTR.

Do They Have the Authority to Do This?

Yahoo News! has this headline: Olsen Twins Pick Boy Successors. It's too bad that there aren't two Jack Roberts in this world*. I wondered what they were going to do when they got too old for their little 'tween empire-building. This frees them up to be the next Doublemint twins, fug-style.

By the way, Get Your War On has been replenished. And it's chicken soup for the abandoned, poverty-stricken corpse's soul.

*Who knows, maybe there are. Jack was adopted from Ireland. Maybe there's another wacky tyke out there just like him.

The Jack Roberts Album

This is awesome.




What gang is Jack a member of? (Thanks, pooplatter.)

It's A Start, I Guess

The New York Times has this story on Bosnian peace efforts:

BOSNIA: COMING TOGETHER OVER BRUCE LEE The ethnically divided Bosnian city of Mostar has agreed to erect a new symbol of unity - a statue of the martial arts legend Bruce Lee, left, beloved of the city's Muslims, Serbs and Croats alike. The statue, cast in bronze and showing the star in a fighting pose, will be designed by a local sculptor and put up in Mostar's central square in November. Mr. Lee's widow, Linda, will be invited to attend the ceremony. A civic group in the strife-ridden city developed the idea in 2003, and recently won a $6,250 donation from a German organization to finance the project. Veselin Gatalo, a member of the organizing group, said, "This will be a monument to universal justice that Mostar needs more than any other city I know." (Reuters)

Maybe if we buy them all a Coke, they'll live in harmony.

Jack Roberts Rocks!

There is a picture in the NYT this morning (page A17) that I cannot find on the web, showing Jack Roberts yawning during the confirmation hearing yesterday. It turns out they did not make the kids sit there all day (Roberts himself looked like he could barely stand to be there, and I wonder if his lip will ever recover from all that chewing).

Jack also started the morning with some muscle-flexing for the press, but no one has put the pictures on the web. If someone can find them, send me a link.

All this, combined with his known krumping, makes me think that Jack Roberts may turn out to be a non-lame Ron Reagan.

The Most Senseless and Awful Thing I Have Seen This Week (well, almost)

You must be wondering: What is more senseless and awful than the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina (and the willful ignorance of generations of politicians/governments, etc etc)?

Answer: A Burning Man attendee trying to justify why he had fun at the festival, despite Katrina.

Now That's Good People

Thanks to Jen for passing this one along. The Tuscaloosa News reports that one Alabama football fan opened his heart, and his hotel room, to hurricane evacuees/refugees.

Billy Ray Moore has been coming to every University of Alabama football game since he can remember. And for years, this Florence resident has slept at the Hampton Inn on Harper Lee Drive. But the 57-year-old Moore won’t be at Bryant Denny/Stadium on Saturday. He’s staying home so a family that lost everything to Hurricane Katrina can use the room he/sreserved nine months ago.“This thing is catastrophic in so many ways," Moore said. “There is no way I could put even an Alabama football game above that.“I love Alabama football, but I love my fellow man even more."

Wow. I will let you make your own sarcastic, angry remarks.

By the way, lots of folks stuck in New Orleans are expressing anger that many troops and supplies have been mobilized to Iraq. They perceive Iraq as getting services that are needed in New Orleans. While the good people of Baghdad might quibble with that (and I doubt anyone in the Superdome knows about the stampede), this attitude really increases the pressure on Bush and Congress to get their act together and fix this debacle. Probably most folks left in New Orleans were not pro-Bush, pro-war to start with, but the scenes painted by the news, coupled with the reiteration of this anger, could really fuel anti-war sentiment nationally.

Red Cross Hurricane Fund

The Red Cross is accepting on-line donations for Hurricane Katrina Relief at https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

The Red Cross is describing this as the biggest US relief operation they’ve ever mounted because of the number of displaced individuals.