Here’s a little linkiness taken from our very own blogroll!

NOLA blogger Adrastos has a thing or two to say about Ike in I Don’t Like Ike, with videos and some interesting pics.

Nezua over at The Unapologetic Mexican channels Hunter Thomas in his take of the protests at the Republican Convention, which he covered as a citizen journalist, in The Front Line is Everywhere – RNC 08:

The GOP actually needs an army now, to make itself evident and dare celebrate anything in public. They have lied, killed, they laugh while we suffer with health problems or bemoan the loss of life and humanity. They bring their army to protect them from the voice of the People they supposedly serve.

Check out the pictures of the riot cops, the first one is stunning.

And Kyle over at Citizen Orange has the latest tragic news from Haiti in Hait is Still Forgotten As It Is Pounded by Yet Another Hurricane, Ike.  Kyle has been doing a great service getting the word out on this tragedy and if you have a moment please digg, reddit or stumble this post.  He also has updates on what you can to do help.

PLEASE DO NOT RECOMMEND OPEN THREAD!  THANK YOU!

I’ve done a lot of blogging this week, about Hurricane Gustav, about New Orleans, about Haiti.

It’s Friday night, and I’d like to write about something that doesn’t have so much to do with current events and politics.

Although I am no longer an observant Jew, I was brought up in the Jewish faith and still have a great love for it.

In my family, my mother would light the candles every Friday evening to begin the sabbath.  My mother wasn’t always a happy person and she had a terrible temper … but when she lit the candles, no matter what mood she was in, it was an awesome sight to behold.

She’d put a white silk scarf over her head and take a match to the two white candles, then make a gesture with her hands over the candles as if beckoning the flame.  She did this three times.  Then she put her hands over her face and recited the blessing.  She’d stay there a little longer after making the blessing and I found out later from her that she used that time to pray for specific people who were having troubles, or for something on her mind.

She always looked so peaceful while saying the sabbath prayer, after she took her hands away from her face, it glowed.

She learned the Jewish prayers from my grandfather on my father’s side, who was a rabbi, but worked as a shoe store salesman and didn’t ply the rabbinic trade.  She had a great love for him and told me he was a wonderful teacher.

When I asked her what she said in her prayers, I found out she said very simple things, like “may she be well,” or “help him with his problems, please.”  She was always a woman of few words, so I wasn’t surprised by that.

The bloggers I am about to quote — and there are so many more in this group equally as good — have emerged as sort of a blogging coalition since Katrina hit.  They have, working together (even when they violently disagree with each other), gotten the real story out on what’s been going on in New Orleans, from housing to the recovery to the colorful politics that they are working hard to change from within and without.  I believe they are an excellent example of citizen journalists and activists.

From Adrastos, the first NOLA blog I ever read, his post The Tiers of A Clown, on Mayor Nagin’s “return” plan:

There’s rampant confusion about re-entry. Nagin has been nattering on and on (it’s the only thing he does well) about a four tiered scheme. LINK. Supposedly, some sort of placard exists that would help people re-enter. Unfortunately, C Ray and his inept minions neglected to tell us how to obtain said placards either before Gustav or subsequently. As a business owner, I should in theory be in the third tier and be able to return tomorrow. BUT all I have is my occupational license. And I don’t feel like waving that at some burly guardsman with an automatic weapon. I suppose the info about the re-entry placards is another state secret like C Ray’s schedule.

We’re used to incompetent and high-handed government in New Orleans. Most of the time, it doesn’t effect our daily lives but right now it does. Our city is “led” by a fool who couldn’t find a bathroom without a GPS and we’re supposed to believe that he knows what’s best for ordinary citizens. This is the same mook who screwed the pooch in 2005 and has given us the glories of the Jack-o-Lantern recovery. And we’re now supposed to trust in C Ray and in a Governor who is out to make himself look good to aid and abet his ambition.

We Got Docudharma Horoscopes!

Yeah, I figure if all these other folks can go on and on about horoscopes, why can’t I?  I’m as psychic as the next guy!  And I know this because I’m psychic!

So here are your Docudharma  horoscopes, courtesy of Madame NPK.

Aires

Only the second day after the new moon, time of purification and emptiness, and you’re already raring to go fill everything up in a heartbeat!  Well, impetuous Aires, go right ahead, no one is going to stop you as they’re all too worn out eating at barbeques and otherwise engaged in Labor Day activities.  You’ll be the one to steal the march on everyone else and by the end of the day, if anyone tries to stop you, you’ll be gone like a cool breeze.

Taurus

Sure you are stubborn, why wouldn’t you be?  Isn’t the Earth herself awfully stubborn, hanging around as long as she has?  Consider it a virtue, I say.  Use this day to catch up on your sybaritic pleasures, long sensuous bath, a glass of wine, loving your lover or, if you are single, wooing a new lover with your not inconsiderable charms.  You’ll need this break because the week ahead will be chock full of adventure!

While we’re waiting, these folks are waiting too, but many of them far from home.

So here’s the refugee edition.

Humid Haney Rant has a wild series of iPhotos taken while on the road, going towards Alabama.

Loki had a rough time evacuating but finally posts over at Humid City:

We are in MccComb, MS with friends (The Admiral is an excellent host!). More audio from the road tomorrow when we head up to Ohio.

Cats are much better.

Stay tuned.

Loki, Refugee Founder of HumidCity

Just a few quick links from the NOLA blogs.  Nice thing about these blogs is if you visit one, you end up linking to all the others, and they are all worth reading.

Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief:

I’ve been enjoying the professionalism of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s hurricane preparation updates during the past few days. He’s not afraid to lay a lot of detailed information on his audience. Yesterday he went on for about 10 minutes straight, in granular detail, citing all the numbers of buses, people, and provisions that are coming into New Orleans to help with evacuation and post-storm relief. Afterwards, he described the laundry list of statistical information as a brief “survey” of what is being done. His directness and command of the details was the key thing, throuout. He didn’t seem overwhelmed. He stayed on target. He instilled confidence.

I’ve been struggling with my feelings about the Democratic Convention.

But I’ve decided to stop struggling.

There will be always a contradiction between my heart and my head when it comes to politics.

Over at the Kenneth Cole Awearness Blog, there’s a post by Liza Sabater, founder of culturekitchen and The Daily Gotham.

She spoke of Ted Kennedy’s speech and the reaction in the “Big Tent” of the bloggers who watched it:

Even though we weren’t inside the convention center, the fun thing about watching an event like this with other bloggers is in the unfiltered comments you get for every single moment of the broadcast as it is happening. So when we were watching the tribute to Senator Kennedy (“Uncle Teddy” to us bloggers), Michael comes to me and says, “that’s not a tribute, that’s an eulogy.” I was shocked to hear that but it made me pay attention to what was happening in the room. Around us, there were more than a few fellow bloggers wiping tears from their eyes.Yet out came the Senator from Massachussets to give one of the most rousing speeches I’ve heard him give in years. It was amazing to see him with so much energy, so much enthusiasm. It was truly touching and inspiring and the perfect lead into presenting Michelle Obama.

To get started:

From TalkLeft, Jeralyn gives her overview arriving in Denver for the Democratic Convention – with pictures!

TocqueDeville over at Daily Kos has put to music a political poem of Hunter’s.  Check it out.

From Dharmaniac meteoriot, posting as jakethorn at his blog Lose the Label, an audio of his original tune he posted at YouTube:

Hope you’re doing ok, meteoriot, and that we hear from you soon.

Please do not recommend this Open Thread!

I got this fool idea in my head a few months ago, and it still hasn’t gone away, so I thought maybe I could just write it out and then I’ll be able to forget it.

It came from a comment I made in an essay by Turkana on torture, back in April, which said, in part:

… just finished telling a market researcher who called why I don’t do market surveys.

After I hung up I thought … and not even angrily, or anything, just thought, maybe that survey company should start surveying how people feel about torturing … about a whole lot of other things than what car folks drive and their favorite breakfast cereal.

And I think of the state of the world and wonder how much of our already present industries and companies and various annoying capitalistic systems could be transformed, retrofitted somehow, to be of help rather than the insult to injury they are now.

subtitle:  The Strange Summer of 2003



I perform strange experiments here in New York City.

In the late 90’s I looked around to see if any women were wearing shoes of a color other than black, white, brown or red.

See, Manhattan has its own sense of style, and it really is wonderful to people watch in various neighborhoods.  In Midtown you can see the working woman look and a little farther uptown you see the rich ladies in their rich clothes.  And in the Village, it was one original outfit after another, usually black.

As a matter of fact, a disproportionate number of women in Manhattan wore black, it was considered the Metropolitan style.  Even in summer.

So when I first performed my experiment, I literally didn’t see one pair of colored shoes worn by Manhattan women other than the ones I listed above.

Of course, it wasn’t a very scientific experiment, but I really did look at hundreds of women.  I got sort of obsessed by it.

Then came 9/11.  And two years later, the summer of 2003.

I keep thinking, for some reason, of Patrick Fitzgerald, as an authentic American.  I remember when he would give press conferences on the Libby case and no one was able to spin what he said.

And I think his acceptance of limitation had something to do with it.

The I-Ching says (Wilhelm/Baynes edition), in the hexagram of “Kou/Coming to Meet”:

The superior man always stays where he belongs.  He comes only into his own domain.  … The inferior man has to depend on a lucky chance.

I sometimes forget that Scooter Libby was convicted on four of five charges, convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in the Plame affair.  I sometimes forget this because, of course, Mister Bush immediately pardoned him.

But Patrick Fitzgerald was able to make the case and convict Libby.

I think of the word “limitation” because of how Fitzgerald spoke during those press conferences.  He didn’t try to moralize or speak politically.  He spoke only of his job and explained what obstruction of justice meant (the notion of “kicking sand in the umpire’s face”) and stuck to the facts of what he could say.  He never deviated from this no matter what the press asked him.  So there was nothing to spin.