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Showing posts from September, 2005
Celebration turned chaotic for friends After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans early Aug. 29, Patti Melton and sisters Mary and Kate Millosovich — three lifelong friends from Alameda — opened up two champagne bottles to celebrate Kate's upcoming wedding... Read it!
The Jacob Weisberg piece on race and Katrina is definitely a must-read. He lays out the grim Rove-ism of Bush's ignoring blacks mainly because blacks don't help the GOP win votes. He doesn't care because his political self-interest requires him not to: Compare what happened when hurricanes Charley and Frances hit Florida in 2004. Though the damage from those storms was negligible in relation to Katrina's, the reaction from the White House was instinctive, rapid, and generous to the point of profligacy. Bush visited hurricane victims four times in six weeks and delivered relief checks personally. Michael Brown of FEMA, now widely regarded as an incompetent political hack, was so responsive that local officials praised the agency's performance. It reminds me of that great Bill Clinton quote (thanks to the Has-Been for this, which comes from an old CNN piece ): This compassionate conservatism has a great ring to it, you know. It sounds sooo good. And near as I can te
My counterpart at work just gave notice. Better job, closer to her experience, better money, closer to home. Good for her. But her leaving reminded me that the main thing keeping me here is salary. I'm uneasy when I think about this. I got here during the boom, and my salary reflects that. A fluke. But the fact that I X locks me in to staying, to get X. I can sense that in some ways my moment here has passed, but I'll stay as long as they'll pay X. Which makes me something of a whore.