The Cherokee word for “Fire” is a-tsi-la
Northern Los Angeles is on a-tsi-la right now.
The Los Angeles Times coverage has been pretty good.
Thanks to the LA County Fire Department for saving lives and risking their own.
Michael Martin Murphy had a big hit in the 70s called Wildfire — even though it’s about a horse named Wildfire lost in a blizzard , it still seems appropriate at this time.
She came in the early morning, with a wind that made grown men cry, and her fury was the end of 1,836 people.
As can be seen in Times-Picayune photographer John McCusker’s image to the left, Katrina made a point about sticking around longer than she was welcome, leaving New Orleans a different place than it was before.
On August 28, 2005, Hurricane Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico where it powered up to a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, with sustained winds at nearly 175 mph. Oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico recorded 100-foot waves, some causing these mammoth structures to collapse under the weight of the storm’s tremendous water load.
At 7:10 a.m. EDT on August 29, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southern Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, just south of Buras, as a Category 3 hurricane. Maximum winds at landfall were estimated near 125 mph to the east of the center — crossing just south of New Orleans, then turning north toward Bay St. Louis, Mississppi, where she made a second landfall.
View Times-Picayune coverage here.
The New York Times article on President Obama’s promise to continue rebuilding New Orleans.
And another website dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina here.
The best book on the subject is by Tulane University professor Douglas Brinkley, titled The Great Deluge.
Four years later, and the Crescent City still stands — albeit with a population only 70% of what it was on that fateful weekend. But it will never be the same. Hopefully, it will be better.
“We’re not even dealing with dead bodies. They’re just pushing them on the side.”
— New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, regarding rescue crews trying to locate and save hundreds, if not thousands, of people who, in the days after Katrina struck, were still stranded on roofs and in attics.
00s, 21st Century Culture, Earth, New America, Social Responsibility, Water
Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream, and it wasn’t that we would all have equality under the laws and resources of health-care. But, he might have had some ideas for the frivolous rhetoric surrounding the attempted implementation of health-care reform.
It’s been 46 years — to the day — since MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which challenged similar opposition to the Civil Rights Movement of his time.
Citizens think that an endowment of freedom is similar to the value of their insurance — even though the health-insurance industry and health-care system are antiquated, fruitless institutions. Don’t take what these citizens have, because fear dictates a hoarding effect and vehement defense of their nearly useless insurance. Even health-care co-ops would be a better, cheaper alternative to current health-care malfeasance and impotence.
Reality is that the great U.S. of A. CAN’T AFFORD to maintain the status quo.
With banks continuing to sputter and stall, a debt-laden Chinese relationship, and the rocketing price of health-care, a managed, regulated, and reformed health-care system is necessary. Just like Civil Rights was necessary, though many opposed it at the time. Ironically, many of these same folks don’t speak of this opposition to Civil Rights, but find new glory in the raucous Town Hall Meetings politicians have been hosting during Congress’s August recess.
Dreams of Civil Rights. Hope for Health-Care Reform. Progress with an emerging New America. And the Reality of a bi-partisan battle that has less to do with health-care and a healthy economy than the liberal vs. conservative bickering that muddies the water and pisses on the party. Tea Party Patriots? Digital Ink declines any invite to myopic ignorance.
The following quote from the 2008 Nobel Prize-winning economist, Princeton professor, and New York Times‘ columnist Paul Krugman sums it all up:
“At this point, all that stands in the way of universal health care in America are the greed of the medical-industrial complex, the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine, and the gullibility of voters who believe those lies.”
What would MLK say? Speak to the truth of the matter, and remove strong-principled beliefs in partisan politics for rational perception of a much-needed change. In order to emerge as a stronger, leaner, healthier nation, Health-Care Reform is necessary, just like Civil Rights are necessary. Anyone want to argue that? Ask MLK, he’ll tell you about his dream.
Brian Epstein was manager of The Beatles from his discovery of the Fab Four in the now-famous Cavern Club in 1961 until his untimely death in 1967.
Many believe The Beatles owe everything to Mister Brian Epstein as the architect of their band’s personality and captain of their traveling show.
Indeed, the result of his death was an ongoing dispute between Paul McCartney and John Lennon as to who should be their new leader, eventually leading to their breakup over this fateful decision.
The tragic overdose on prescription pills was so unexpected, the Beatles decided to take a vacation to India with their spiritual guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to discover transcendental meditation and potentially communicate with their now-deceased leader.
On this day (August 27, 1967) 32 years ago, Brian Epstein left this world for his next journey, but the legend of his influence and guiding hand upon The Beatles hasn’t disappeared.
Who knows what would have become of the four mop-heads from England if Mister B.E. could have stuck around a little longer?
Check out the tribute video to Mister B. E. here.
Arctic Monkeys are a foursome out of Sheffield, England, who play a new-fangled spin on the Brit-pop emo-rock introduced by bands like Oasis, Radiohead, Catherine Wheel, and The Cure in the 90s.
Their 2009 release, Humbug, is now available and includes the first single: Crying Lightning
They’ve got the Super Good stuff. Check out the YouTube video here:
Steroids have been a part of professional sports longer than anyone would care to admit. Ask Governor Schwarzenegger, he’ll give you some details about his experience with “Pumping Iron.”
Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez, Jose Canseco, and on and on…
The question remains, do these guys get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Do they merit the same accolades and awards of players like Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig, Bob Gibson, Roberto Clemente, or Ted Williams?
What is in question is not the issue of whether they used supplements or performance-enhancing drugs to increase their stats and achievements, but whether they’ll ever admit to it.
It’s a classic catch-22 conundrum — admit to it, and face a ban from Cooperstown, or lie and take their chances. Barry Bonds will be the first put to this test when a Federal prosecutor brings his perjury case to trial.
The Los Angeles Times‘ sportswriter Bill Shaikin wrote an article recently that discusses in detail the subject of steroids as it currently rests, and the policy of partial-disclosure that Major League Baseball is wrestling with.
View the August 22, 2009, piece: “Book Still Open on Steroid Era.”
Burl Toler was the first black official in professional football, and any professional sport for that matter. His story is one of courage and profound passion for the competition and camaraderie of the game of football. But the real story begins with the college football team and the players he played and competed with.
The University of San Francisco Dons football team was undefeated in 1951, going 9-0. The following is an explanation for the dilemma faced by the team, when they had to decide whether they would go to a bowl game without their two best players — All-American Ollie Matson and Burl Toler, who were both black.
The following is taken from the USF sports information website:
“The announced reason for rejecting USF was its weak schedule, but San Francisco sportscaster Ira Blue reported that he was told by Gator Bowl president Sam Wolfson that the Gator, Sugar, and Orange Bowl committees had all decided to avoid teams with ‘Negro’ players.”
“There was also an insinuation that had the Dons been willing to play without Matson and Toler, they might have been granted a bid. Without hesitation, the players decided they would never play in a bowl game or otherwise without Matson and Toler.”
“The school needed the financial reward a trip to a bowl game would reap, in order for the football program to be sustained. The sport was costing the University nearly $70,000 a year, a deficit the school couldn’t endure any longer.”
“On December 30, 1951, the Reverend William J. Dunne, S.J., then USF’s president, announced that the school would no longer field a football team because of the financial burden. The school’s best football team was to be its last Division I team.”
Pete Rozelle — who would lead the NFL as its commissioner for three decades — was the team’s sports information director, and he proclaimed their accomplishments as his proudest moment in football.
Three players from that team went on to gain NFL Hall of Fame honors, and Burl Toler was elected to the Hall of Fame as an official with more than 25 years of dedication to the game.
In remembrance to Burl Toler, who died August 16, 2009, check out the YouTube video of the Fox Sports special during the Fiesta Bowl about the magical season of the 1951 University of San Francisco Dons, and their willingness to go beyond the game and embrace their “Negro” teammates.
Special people do special things.