Arrivals and Departures

Henson offspring pimp Kermit to Disney

MUPPETS GO CORPORATE AT DISNEY: "Kermit the Frog is to celebrate 50 years in showbiz with a 50-stop world tour. The green amphibian will kick off his global adventure and relaunch the Muppets brand next month in the town of Kermit, Texas." -- Daily Star UK

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 5:37 AM 0 comments

And now this

"In a caravan of 20 cars, the Ruben family and their neighbors in the coastal town of Texas City had tried to obey the state's mandatory hurricane evacuation order. With full gas tanks, food and water, they left on a designated evacuation highway on Wednesday at 11:30 p.m., hoping to beat the rush and avoid the heat.Seventeen hours later, they had traveled just 60 miles..." (Blaine Harden, Washingon Post)

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 6:42 AM 0 comments

Hip Hop Politics

Given the origins of rap music, it won't surprise anyone that music and politics have intersected yet again. Alternet blogger Jan Frel provided a link to a post-Katrina tune that leaves no doubt about the artist's feelings.

"It's an underground remix of Kanye West's song 'Gold Digger'," said Frel.

If your hip hop vocabulary has you feeling wack, this dictionary may come in handy.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 7:09 PM 0 comments

National Coming Out Day on October 11

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Or, at least read about it.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 12:41 PM 0 comments

Jebby Bush arrested in Austin, TX

From the clan that's deeply concerned about the state of everyone else's family, and the folks charging ahead to rewrite the constitution and prevent ME from legally having a family at all, comes another tale of privelage, intoxication and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

"John Ellis Bush, 21, was arrested by agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission at 2:30 a.m. on a corner of Austin's Sixth Street bar district, said commission spokesman Roger Wade. The nephew of President Bush was released on $2,500 bond for the resisting arrest charge, and on a personal recognizance bond for the public intoxication charge, officials said."

Little Bush, also known as "Jebby" (now there's a reason to drink) has been in trouble before. The long arm of the law once found Jebby and a girl macking in his car at a Florida mall...with their pants around their ankles.

Other Bushes who have run afoul of the law, include: Jebby's strung-out sister, Noelle, his older brother George P. Bush, and his infamous cousins Barbara and Jenna. Even Jebby's aunt, Laura Bush had some troubles when, in 1963, she ran into a car that happened to be driven by her boyfriend, Michael Dutton Douglas, 17. Douglas was killed, and no charges were filed against Laura Welch (Bush).Then, of course, there is Uncle G.W. and his buddy Dick Cheney.

I used to wonder if Gov. Jeb Bush might run for president in 2008. Given that his offspring and other family members are so maladjusted, and that his brother now polls below Richard Nixon on a bad day, I think another Bush is unlikely in 2008.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 6:41 AM 0 comments

Do you know where your teenager is? Jail, maybe?

This just in from Slashdot...The hacker who pilfered phone numbers from Paris Hilton's Sidekick will spend 11-months in the big house. Make that the little house. The dude is only a teenager. If you think the sentence is stiff, it also includes crimes such as hacking into LexisNexis.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 9:21 PM 0 comments

Robert Wise is dead

Film Director Robert Wise was to be honored on Wednesday at the San Sebastian film festival. He died yesterday and his fete will now turn into a tribute. (AP photo)

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 8:48 PM 0 comments

Senator Lott's advice to Bush

From the New York Times:

"We're all to blame to a degree." Mr. Lott added that Congress should never have passed legislation, as the White House wanted, that made the Federal Emergency Management Agency part of the Department of Homeland Security.

"We went along with that, and I guess we'll have to go back and try to rewrite the history, but that should be an independent agency reporting only to the president of the United States," Mr. Lott said.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 8:19 PM 0 comments

Stating the obvious?

"Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the [New Orleans] reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of government.." --- New York Times, Sept. 15, 2005.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 8:14 PM 0 comments

Gilligan Dead at Seventy: FEMA Deflects Blame

You might wonder if Gilligan died while waiting for FEMA to rescue him from the disastrous shipwreck that stranded him and several other caucasions on a remote island. If I were WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan, I would have this to say: "This is no time to play the blame game. At the appropriate time, perhaps December 2008, we will begin to think of possibly looking into what went right and what the challenges were that prohibited an earlier rescue effort to bring passengers of the SS Minnow to safety. This is no time to play the blame game. Did I already say that?"

"[Bob] Denver, of course, played Everyman. The lovable loser, the bumbler. Schlemiel against nature. Week after week, you could count on Gilligan to foul up whatever complicated escape plan his fellow castaways had constructed." - Washington Post

(photo: NBC)

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 6:07 AM

Number Two at FEMA appears to lack credentials

"Before joining FEMA in 2001, [Michael] Brown, a protege of longtime Bush aide Joseph Allbaugh, was commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and had virtually no experience in disaster management....Rhode and Altshuler [Brown's deputies] worked in the White House's Office of National Advance Operations, which arranges Bush's travel and scripts his appearances."

- Chicago Tribune, Sept. 7, 2005

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 5:11 AM

Can you please define "heckuva" ?

"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." -- George W. Bush about his pal who heads FEMA, Michael Brown.

p.s. This dude apparently applies lip gloss before every TV interview. Just look at the luster! It was perhaps his only consistent action. I noticed this at least a half-dozen times.

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 8:06 AM 0 comments

White House Press Briefing

QUESTION: Does anyone in this White House know anyone that's there, beyond Trent Lott, that's lost a home, that has lost family, that's displaced?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President visited with a number of those who have been affected by the hurricane. We went down to Mississippi and Louisiana on Friday. The President visited with a number of people in the Biloxi area who have lost everything they had. The President saw firsthand.

(source: whitehouse.gov, photo: Reuters)

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 1:53 PM 0 comments

Well! What was the third...?

"In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City." -- Sydney Blumenthal

posted by MonsieurCAVALIER @ 2:56 PM 2 comments