thoughts on the Republican convention, 9/2 - 9/4 and some of the music used

8:59 Tues
Something weird before Lisa Keegan. An attempt to be hip. Fairly awful.

The Repubs become non-partisan for a moment when asking for help for
the Gulf Coast. Soon enough, they discard that and go back to being
jerks.

Polls say the delegates are pro-Bush, pro-McCain to a great extent
whereas the majority of Republicans DO NOT favor Bush or McCain at
all. Should be interesting. These are the guys who drank the Cool-Aid.

Also disappointing is the fact that reporters outside the convention
are being arrested and abused. Like most Republican conventions, free
speech is in danger and protesters will get abused. They too will
cause trouble but the police will overreact and innocent people will
get hurt or arrested.

Repubs are using fear to get elected as usual. That and an overdose
of patriotism.

Fred Thompson on now. A joke of a man. Amazing that people would vote
for him. A macho idiot.

Jolting Joe Lieberman on now. How bizarre to see him there.

***

Wed

They play Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People. Great song. I
think this is an alternate version or they have edited out, or are
using an edited version that has the 'different strokes for different
folks' part out. Why? Maybe they just are missing a channel. I
suspect they edited it out.

Next, they play the rockabilly song (Rock This Town - by?, very familiar).

Kenny Loggins next.

Happy Republicans dancing to some cowboy song.

Earth, Wind & Fire - September. These white folks are abit retarded,
dance-wise.

Guiliani had to mention 9/11...

Sarah Palin's a pit bull with lipstick. I can't wait for the
Photoshopped pics that won't be flattering to her. But then, she did
ask for it.

Thurs

They go for the 9/11 angle.

Kenny Loggins sings - ..."we're gonna take you to the danger zone"...
Yes they will. Not the best choice for a song I'd think.

Lindsay Graham's argument about Iraq only points out that the
Republicans and Bush would have kept going on the same course if the
surge hadn't been tried, over their protestations. The soldiers on
the ground said this isn't working? Why didn't Bush, the Republicans
and the Dept of Defense listen?

Sarah Palin film
Mother, moose hunter... great. They show a pic of her as a child with
food on her mouth. Nice. Over the rainbow shot at the end blows the
tone.

Having that large screen behind the speakers reminds me of the Apple
1984 commercial. All the willing lemmings eating it up.

The movie that plays after Tom Ridge speech for Cindy McCain has a
first musical theme that sure sounds alot like this Land Is Your
Land, not a tune I'd think they'd want to use given the Pete Seeger
connection.

Cindy with black folks in Africa. She must be a good person.

She appears. Her hair has gotten bigger.

She's "blessed and honored to be part of our national conversation."
That's a wierd thing to say.

"Get the federal government out of our way." She's one of those...

Ralph Nader is on a live webcast now so I'm watching that.

'Let all of those who are locked up for non-violent drug "crimes"
go. Then, have massive prosecution of corporate crooks.'

They're using a handheld camera. They should have used a tripod...

'The US people don't want very much.' That, alas, is why Ralph won't
do well. Most people don't care enough to think things through. If
they did, he'd do better.

What makes anybody think that the Repubs or Democrats will "ever get it done."

CEOs should outsource their jobs too!

The Repubs are showing McCain in Viet Nam again.

McCain is standing in front of a green screen (later blue). Perfect
for lots of people to put something in for the background that may
not flatter him.

Nader webcast is hard to hear...

Nader: We're putting kids in front of screens in education when they
should be doing more worthwhile things.

I agree. "Only human beings should have constitutional rights. Not
corporations." And corporations should not be able to lobby either.

It's kinda cool to see the Repub convention-goers cheering while I
listen to Ralph's webcast! And to have McCain mouth Ralph's words!

Nader will be on 45 state ballots!

The audio is too hot. Distorting but it's still hard to hear the speakers.

The speaker that follows Ralph asks for a $2300 contribution. The
room doesn't respond at first then we hear someone say 'I will.'
They're doing some fundraising now.

I turn the volume down on Ralph's fundraising and listen to McCain.
McCain is now saying we will embark on a big project to make us
energy independent. Drill now? That's the WRONG strategy, my friend.
More nuclear power plants. Clean coal. All bad ideas.

Actually, we know better than what you're suggesting.

Q&A for Ralph now.

On 9/11: Would have worked with other countries to go after the
attackers with a laser-like focus.

Full Medicare for all.

Next week will get together with Bob Barr, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney
(the Green party candidate for President) and some others to say
they are for all for repealing the Patriot Act and treating the
massive deficit (and more).

'The word "spoiler" is a politically bigoted word reserved for third
party candidates... No one blames Pat Buchanan for the 2000 election.
Gore should have won his own state of TN. etc.'

McCain seems to be done. We see a big flag behind the speakers most
of the time.

Bush and Cheney (and Rumsfeld) are subject to criminal prosecution
after they are out of office.

Replace health insurers with Medicare.

Repubs play September again as McCain walks through the crowd.

I agree, the Dems are only interested in self-preservation.

The federal government of 1933 could have done a better job with Katrina.

Hurricane Gustav, Tuesday, 9/2

I tune in to DSU about 10:45 NY time.

Jindal is having another press conference.

People are heading back even though they won't be allowed to enter some places.

Randi Rousseau's profile looks like my old girlfriend...

Mr Moore, a neighbor who lived near and worked on a house that had
collapsed, will have more work... (Remember that song, don't have any
more, Mrs Moore?)

They show a shot of the entrance to the Palm Lake subdivision in
Slidell. It's a lake alright.

No levees breached in Orleans parish. Good. Water is still coming
over the top of the Industrial Canal though!

Danny Prinze and his wife moved to Slidell because they like the
water. Well, they got water now, as we seen them walking into it to
check out their home.

Rep Cedric Richmond: "We have to be sure we don't rely on the Coast
Guard", re: the ships in the Industrial Canal. That should be
interesting.

Plaquemines has 8 places where the levees are being overtopped. They
show footage shot yesterday of work by Braithwaite.

DSU's Dan Milham: "It looks like Hannah may go to Savannah."!

Various rivers are flooding.

DSU anchor doesn't have a blow dryer as a way of being sympathetic to
those who don't have enough money to stay away any longer. I'm sure
some will be upset with that comment but it was meant to be humorous
and that's how I took it.

Haskell baskets.

Billy Nugesser is pissed that the Corps hasn't figured out how to get
the levee fixed near Conoco. He agrees that they are frustrated as he
is.

Mayor of Slidell jokes about getting the sewage, "things", moving.

Billy Nungesser: "We're sitting around with our hand up our ass"...
He wants to cut through red tape, environmental reviews, etc to get
the levees in better shape. I hope they don't skip the environmental
reviews.

Helos (helicopters)

Ceeon Quiett is a spokeswoman for the city of NO. A quiet spokeswoman...

Heath Allen standing in water up to his knees as he makes his report
from Mandeville.

Reporter reads info provided by the military for the pictures they've
sent them verbatim. They should leave out the hype/self-promotion
they provided.

4:42 NY time: DSU: We're seeing some training going on. What's
training? This was in regard to bad weather, tornados or possible
tornados.

Tornados seen. Adding insult to injury, many must think 'what a place
to live.' They certainly have their hands full.

Levees overtopped in Plaquemines.

Crevasses.

Nungesser owns Elkland, an exotic animal tourist trap.

We see JIndal, Mitch Landrieu and MIchael Chertoff touring around.

Tempers are flaring with drivers who want to come back. We're not
seeing that but I am sure it is happening alot. People are impatient.

5:36 NY time. They are starting to let some people back in some places.

They show a tornado warning which they think will bring it to Audubon
park at the same time it is due in Lafayette. I'm not sure what that
was supposed to be.

They also say:
4:59 Audubon Zoo
--- Lower Garden District
5:01 Tulane.
Anyone who knows about Audubon Park will know that Tulane is across
the street. That's a little ridiculous, tracking anything to that
small level. (It's now crossing the street at such and such a
location...)

On the banner "leaders say the", that's it. Oops.

More tornado warnings, maybe 3, for Orleans parish. Oy.

7:05 NY time. The twin spans have reopen! It also seems the tornado
activity have quieted down but no, more to come. NO is still not
admitting people. Report of a tornado touching down in Abita Springs.

9:39 NY time: Things have quieted down mostly.

30% of the residents of St John Baptist parish stayed through the
storm, according to Buddy Boe.

WWL and VUE are showing commercials. DSU isn't yet.

Seeing that many places are letting people back in. Good.

I may check back in but I think this is it for blogging this storm.

Take care New Orleans and all those affected by the storm.

Cheers,

John L

One last one:
From a parish president as reported on DSU: "if you don't need to come back please have a compelling reason to do so." Hunh?

Hurricane Gustav, Monday, 9/1

Monday, 9/1

I start watching at 10:20 NY time

Anchorwoman calls the Rigolets, Rigolees.

We see water at the top of the Industrial Canal. It will probably
overtop any minute.

There are some ships/barges loose in the Industrial Canal. Great. A
fire at Broad and Esplanade.

We hear, "Tornados. I need to go on."

The New Orleans side of the Industrial Canal is at risk.

We're losing the audio and the entire signal often.

Watching water coming over the Industrial Canal, the Orleans side. Very sad.

I wonder if a second wall behind these first walls would help. The
second wall wouldn't have to be as well entrenched. It could just be
enough to hold whatever spilled over or if the first wall broke, a
smaller force of water, not the full force of the water in the canal.
Would that help?

Shut up Travers.

Anchors talking to Sen Vitter: "Obviously no one is jumping the gun."
"Obviously" is one overused word and inaccurately used in most cases
so far.

Bush: "The co-ordination of this storm is a lot better"... If you say
so. All that says is you are covering your ass. What are you doing to
help? He is still an idiot.

Jindal: 3 more hours of peak water on the Industrial Canal.

Lilly pads!

Jindal is giving excellent info.

Norman Robinson, DSU: ..."in Southern ship yard"... should be In THE
Southern shipyard...

Some city councilman are going to make sure that vessels won't be in
the Industrial Canal during hurricanes. Good idea.

Cynthia Willard-Lewis is wandering in her answer.

I am feeling better that the city will survive with few problems. The
water is not overtopping as severely near the Judge Sieber Bridge,
where DSU's Travers Mackel is. Other reports indicate that things
seem to be getting better. That could change though with one break.

Ron Smiley has calmed down. Good. We'll get better info if he isn't breathless.

3:16 NY time: DSU: The Army Corps of Engineers isn't overly concerned
about the overtopping of the Industrial Canal. The city pumps will
take care of it.

1/4 of US oil production is from the Gulf. It's all shut down. 40% of
US refining capacity is shut down. The Strategic Oil Reserve is at
record levels.

The Red Cross director is saying all the right things.

Billy Nungesser via a DSU reporter: "We didn't dodge a bullet. We
dodged a cannonball"!

Heath Allen's audio report of the North Shore is horrendous. Cell
phone garbage. 'There was a lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta,
rain out there.'

Smiley laughs as they say that 'people who evacuated to get out of
the way of this, are now getting slammed.' Real compassionate. He's
laughing because it came out so differently than they had expected
and that is human but it just looks bad.

They're relieved that the expected worst in New Orleans hasn't
happened but what about the rest of LA?

DSU (guest) reporter Sandra Shaw..."as you can see some of the EMS
workers had to help him out." No, we aren't seeing that.

4:30 NY time: Cat 1 now.

Ron: ..."we have a lot of friends back in the Mississippi"... He
meant to say the 'Mississippi area' but he had too much to say so he
skipped it. Idiot. Slow down. Engage brain before operating mouth.
...back in the Florida... signs that says...

Richard Angelico is filing some good reports.

Ron: "When you're looking at this eye kind of thing"...

DSU: Rachel Wulff: "Occasionally we'll see a huge whiff of wind." A whiff?

Keli Fulton: "We saw several trees down literally".... Hunh? Literally?

Good to have phone reports from all the reporters.

5:10 pm CNN: WGNO is reporting a levee break? Caernarvon.

5:30 NY time: "Plaquemines parish residents must leave now." The
levee will be overtopped.

These newscasters/weatherpeople have to stop using the word
"obviously". Please.

They interview john Green. He thinks people will stay the next time.
He's probably right. People are lazy. If they don't have to move to
get out of danger, they won't. Of course, they may die if the storm
goes one direction rather than the other.

CNN's John King: "St Bernard's parish." No, it's St Bernard parish.
Others have made that kind of mistake too.

I watch the News Hour. They mentioned that the traffic was one-way
but all the video they showed was of highways with traffic going in
BOTH directions. They also showed a graphic that had nothing to do
with the issue of overtopped levees and the scouring that occurs,
which was what they were talking about.

I am under the impression that the Corps is only rebuilding to a Cat
3, not a 100-year storm. The Corp spokesman said they are rebuilding
for a 100-year storm. But since Cat 3 and 100-year storm are
different ways of looking at it, who knows what they really mean.

Ron: Both the West and East banks are in danger of overtopping by
Caernarvon ... "if I'm not getting this correct." No, you mean 'if
you're not getting this incorrectly' or 'if you're getting this
correctly.'

Jindal on again.

7:12 NY time: The T-P announced at 4:43 pm that the Caenarvon
Mississippi River diversion will be opened. DSU is still wondering if
that will happen.

7:54 NY time: I am not sure if the diversion was opened or not. DSU
aired a report that didn't indicate that. It looked like they were
patching the levee rather than opening it up.

8:08 NY time. DSU: Levee no longer at risk. Good but I am not sure
which one. "The Gulf is rising", in a report shot earlier.

I can't tell what Ron is talking about. The fence? Ascent? Air moving
over water. Enunciate.

They show a map that has the track inland. They list Tues, Wed and
have Sat 7:00 Pm in bigger letters for some reason. Why are they
mentioning Saturday? Are they talking about last Saturday? Next
Saturday? It doesn't make sense to me.

Fetch? Dan Milham mentions it too.

Aaron Broussard on now. One guy demands that Entergy had better be
working on restoring power as soon as the winds go under 25 mph.
Alright.

A pretty Senator Julie Quinn praises the difference between Gustav and Katrina.

We've told you your homes are protected, etc. Stay away until
tomorrow night when they make the decision.

"The winds were declining, not inclining"...

DSU plays first promo since the storm started.

Nagin press conference: Only 2 arrests in the past 24 hrs in NO! Fire
at Esplanade and Broad was due to someone who stayed behind, using a
generator.

DSU headline: "City operating on Skeleton Crew, Working on back-up
power." That could be a headline during Mardi Gras!

The Saints will be back by Monday. Great. (That's a sarcastic great, folks.)

Nagin: 'We need to push the Engineers, the Corps of Engineers, to get
the levees back in shape and the wetlands in the best shape
possible.' Good.

Nagin wouldn't do anything different except maybe calling this the
mother-in-law of all storms!

Nagin thanks Americans.

It looks like this event is over. Yea!

Well, almost over. There are a few levees that may still be in danger
including the one in Plaquemines. One also in St Bernard.

Anderson Cooper: "La fayette."

Fox: Shepherd SmIth: "The governor of New Orleans"...

I see flooding but don't know where it is. And places like Houma and
SW LA really got hit but we'll find out about that tomorrow.

Michael Brown on MSNBC!

DSU is showing what they are calling a live image but it shows late
afternoon and it is now 9:30 NO time. Other stations, CNN included,
are doing that too.

Task Force Gator... (LA National Guard)

11:46 NY time: DSU: Mandeville mayor: Had 8" of rain in the past 2
hours. All the power is out there, except for where there are
generators.

Gina Swanson files a good report from Lafitte. The cameraman/woman
didn't have the light on for awhile but she carried on regardless.
Good for her. More portable levees! They get filled with water.
Brilliant!

Terrebone parish won't be open to people until Friday! That's how bad
things are there.

12:08 NY time. I go to bed.

Hey. Where'd everybody go?

A dog, probably in New Orleans, during Gustav.

Hurricane Gustav, Sunday, 8/31

I tune in to WWL before noon, NY time. Mayor Nagin is having a press
conference. He's feeling better today, knowing that so many have
evacuated. (WWL's audio is ahead of the video, probably due to the
Flip4Mac plugin.) I also can watch the WDSU feed and see that it is
many seconds ahead of the WWL feed and appears to be in sync.) People
are hanging out in Uptown.

Tornados in Lafourche and Terrebone parishes. What a place to live.

Bill Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish President, is one fat man.
Sheriff: "Don't let this become another St Bernard..." Troublemakers
will be sent to Angola... Pres; "This is not nothing to fool with."
You mean it is isn't anything to fool with or don't fool with it but
not it isn't NOTHING to fool with...

DSU female anchor: "Do you known the percentage of people who would
have stayed...", meaning the percentage of people who stayed, not
WOULD HAVE stayed. They mean two different things.

People can get 10 sandbags per person in one of the parishes. How
much good could that do?

34 ft wave heights.

The DSU map has "Fl" over Florida but no other state abbreviations.
Sloppy. And Fl should be FL.

25 inches of rain possible.

Good traffic coverage by WWL.

Wind will start in NO at midnight.

Obama phones in to WWL. He wants to make sure everything that can be
done is being done. What position is he in to do that? Anchors
interrupt him, assholes.

It takes 2 hours to go from NO East to the twin span on i-10.

Obama on DSU now.

Bush on WWL. He's not going to the GOP convention. He's going to
Austin, San Antonio. He's calling it a "difficult situation". You're
on your own folks.

DSU: They show Barack Obama lower third as they show Contessa Brewer
in the CBD. Audio way ahead of the video.

DSU: If the contraflow began at 4am, why does it say contraflow
begins on the graphic? (It's about noon NO time.)

Aaron Broussard on WWL. 85 % of people on the West Bank in Jefferson
Parish have evacuated.

DSU reporter interviews a guy in a bar in the Quarter. He is staying
because he doesn't trust the government to take care of him. They
didn't last time, he says. He'd rather get shafted by Mother Nature
than the government. OK. Stupid but OK.

Angela Hill still on WWL. WWL meteorologist looks like a blond Tina
Fey with those glasses. The storm coming in earlier is great news?

WWL: Worst winds expected in Terrebone and Lafourche parishes.

DSU: Mary Landrieu on. Yes, get LA it's share of oil revenues. She
questions why people think it is strange that people say people
shouldn't live there but it's ok to live in coastal FL which gets hit
by hurricanes as much . I agree. If they had fixed things up after
Betsy, etc... "we would be in a great shape today."

DSU: "This is a very interesting right now development.' Idiot.

We lose audio on WWL.

DSU: He draws the path of Betsy and calls it similar when it went WAY
off the projected track for Gustav and only met in NO. ...You've had
good luck and good fortune?

No audio on the WWL feed still.

WWL audio is back, 1:36 NY time, but it's overmodulated.

Gov JIndal on now. 15,000 (assisted) evacuated out of NO by now. 2
trains out, that's all?

DSU has a split screen showing highway traffic but they don't say
where the highways are.

Gov Jindal lists the preparations which sound good. We'll see how
well they can handle it. He talks about the buses that didn't show
up. They have more capacity than there is demand. Let's hope. Pet
evacuations contractor didn't do what they were supposed to do either
but the state has made arrangements to cover that.

State police say 200,000 have left NO? Seeing minimal traffic flow in
NO. Things are working so much better now than they were with
Katrina, he says.

2:25 NY time: WWL still loud and overmodulating.

St John Parish President is expecting 96, 97 mph winds.

My computer is averaging 95% CPU use with two Quicktime windows open.
One fan is running constantly, the rear left. The rear right has not
come on since I had the board that had the faulty USB connector on it
replaced. Hope the computer doesn't overheat.

FEMA thinks it is ready for the storm.

3:39 NY time: WWL feed is starting to get jerky. Lots of users I'm
guessing. I close both streams to let my computer cool off.

I watch some on CNN. John King points to three canals, the London
Ave, the 17th St and the Industrial Canal, calling them all the
Industrial Canal. Is it too much to ask that newscasters give out
correct information?

CNN: 'No one understands the situation as well as (General Honore).
Apparently CNN too.

McCain on now (4:03 NY time). Obama beat you by several hours. It's
time to open our hearts, efforts, wallets..." He sounds stilted, the
same as Bush, out of touch. He's asking the Republicans to be with
the Americans. So, Republicans are so removed that they have to be
asked to join in? They are begrudgingly changing their plans. (Gee, I
wish that storm didn't get in the way.) RIck Davis of the RNC: "The
reason we are not able to give you a more notice..." Nobody knows how
to speak anymore.

Rick Davis: They will 'refrain from giving any political rhetoric' tomorrow.

Rick Davis: 'The President's full undivided attention is in the
Gulf.' Wouldn't it be ON the Gulf? His attention is in the Gulf? Is
he in the water?

Fox: Saw "uparmored humvees"... So they have "uparmored Humvees" in
the US. Do they have enough in Iraq?

5:52 NY time. Lafitte mayor mentions they have portable levees!
That's a cool development.

DSU reporters talk to people who are staying. They feel confident
they will be ok for no good reasons, (Car dealer feels ok in his
gut?!). I hope they talk to them after the storm. See if they sing
the same tune.

Billy Nungesser is riding house to house to try to get people out.
This man is a hero. 'If he can save one person, it makes it all
worthwhile.'

Some, who should know, are saying the storm may not be as bad we'd
feared. We'll see,

DSU anchor pronouncing it Gustav'. I'd pronounce it Gus'tav.

6:41 NY time: Chertoff is behind Jindal for this announcement. Cat 3 to 4.

Chertoff is patting everybody on the back for doing good planning.
Less than 10,000 left in NO.

..."Unconformed reports"... - Jindal.

Hurricane winds hit land early Mon morning.

7:12 NY time: CNN: The storm is still heading into the Gulf of
Mexico. Um, since it is already there where else would it go?

7:19 NY time: Good long press conference from Jindal.

Jefferson Parish evacuation went well - Jefferson Parish Sheriff. In
order to beat contraflow? Why would people want to avoid roadways
having twice the capacity to leave?

DSU doesn't mute the audio for helicopter traffic shots while they
have someone else is on cam in a split screen. It'd be a good idea.

7:33 NY time: DSU audio is out again.

CNN: "Obviously that's probably going to be cancelled..." Obviously.

7:36 NY time: CNN: "In 2003, as Katrina devastated"... Um, Katrina
was in 2005. Incredible how much nonsense there is!

I restart DSU stream and the audio comes back.

CNN: 90% of population have left Southern LA.

8pm NY time: NO is starting to look wet and dark.

Causeway is now closed.

DirecTV now has DSU on so I will watch that.

I now see that it is "contraflow", one word.

9 pm NY time: The airport is now closed.

Tornados happening.

Dry air? Over the Gulf? The DSU has personified the hurricane by
calling it "he". He becomes a tropical storm. He weakens, etc.

26 ft storm surge!

DSU banner says the Causeway will close at 7pm Sunday. It is now 9:20
NO time. Is there any point in showing that?

DSU weatherman is saying it is a Cat 3 now and it may be less than
they expected.

~10:30 pm: City Councilman Carter: 'Yesterday, people on the West
Bank weren't taking it very seriously. Then the mayor made his
announcement at 8 am. Then they started taking it seriously.' Um, how
many people were doing anything before 8 am. I think he meant they
weren't taking it seriously on FRIDAY.

SO MANY misstatements.

DSU anchor: "You're always a big supporter of crime." The other
anchor corrects her: "Fighting crime." So many....

DSU's Fletcher Mackel: "The only cars driving by are police cars and
national guard." As he started saying that we saw a taxi drive by.

Travers? Who's Travers? You mean Fletcher? Both the anchor and the
other weatherman addressed him.

Other weatherman Dan Milham who at least is capable of speaking in
proper sentences: "You wanna know exactly how much? I don't know
exactly how much." Well, thanks for sharing.

"Pretty earlier." You mean 'earlier'. (This is an example, as are the
others, of that well known New Orleans brain fog that makes people
say stupid things.)

Landfall before noon tomorrow, they say.

The cops are being understanding about people out in the curfew. THAT is nice!

DirecTV signal goes out at 11:12 NY time, as Ken was telling us what
the plan was for the police at midnight, though he didn't want to
tell us exactly what the plan was. Wouldn't want to the bad guys
know... Signal back at 11:17.

Idiot weatherman Ron Smiley, when asked why they can't tell the surge
height: "We would need something"... "we have that".... He goes on to
mangle some more English but doesn't explain why he can't provide
that info.

"Largest evacuation in US history."

Travers Mackel: 'As we all know, the Ritz-Carleton had severe
flooding damage in Katrina.' No, we didn't all know. Apparently,
there is a Fletcher Mackel and a Travers Mackel or maybe he goes by
two names? Oh my god. I just looked them up on the internet and it
turns out they are identical twins that both work for DSU!

They are still running the banner that says the causeway will close
at 7 pm Sunday. It's 10:34 NO time. What is the point?

They now have FL marked correctly but that is the map that has all
the other states two letter abbreviations. If they show the one with
Florida and mostly the Gulf, that one will probably have Fl on it.

Ron doesn't want to stay on a spot where there is a tornado warning
because they are assuming that all the people there have evacuated.
By that reasoning, why warn anyone at all? Why tell us about any
dangerous situations?

Ron, shut up every once in awhile. Your mouth is running overtime,
way ahead of your brain.

National Hurricane Center: Cat 3

Ron asks about the eye, landfall, type of storm and a few more
subjects all in one mangled, long question. Ed Rappaport, of the
National Hurricane Center, manages an answer.

The term "feeder band" is tossed around often without any
explanation. It would be nice to explain it every once in awhile.

Norman Robinson to Ed Rappaport: "It's always a joy talking to you."
It is? It didn't seem very joyful to me.

There's tension between the reporters and the police? That's the
first I've heard of it in this event.

Paul Folger has diarrhea of the mouth as he does a remote from downtown.

Polly Boudreaux of the St Bernard Parish Council: intense and
articulate. ...know with some assurity? Assurity?

The Weather Channel is saying this is the largest evacuation in the
history of the state. The state or the country? Both?

12:27 NY time: I go to bed.

Hurricane Gustav, Saturday Night, 8/30

I start Sat night at 11:30 pm (NY time)

New Orleans is being evacuated.

WWL has info on the scroll that says there will be no mail service on
Saturday in X, Y and Z parishes... This is 10:30 at night (NO time)
on Saturday night. How much mail gets delivered on Saturday night?

The storm of the century - Nagin.

What does the evacuation at 8 am or noon mean? You have to start
evacuating at these times or do you have to be evacuated by those
times?

More useless info: Nagin: every mile of wetlands takes absorbs 1 foot
of storm surge. So, do that mean that 200 square miles absorbs 200
feet of water? No. That's useless info.

WDSU (TV) stream is working well. WWL (TV) stream keeps stopping.

DSU anchor man: With the weather being as unpredictable, Anchor
woman: "And volatile." (That means the same thing...)

"Hope is not a plan." True.

"We hope that everyone that's watching is listening." Idiocy.

Anchor has a laptop on the desk but it's closed.

The state police want people to call to get a flyer? How the fuck are
people going to get it? In the mail? Are the state police going to
deliver it? Utter nonsense.

State policeman says he thinks the evacuation/contraflow is going to
go real smoothly. It's not the first rodeo they have been to. Un hunh.

Ah, contraflow will BEGIN at the times mentioned above.

The weather channel: "We're planning for the worst and hoping for the
best." Thanks.

Austin City Limits has the New Orleans Social Club on tonight. A
repeat in honor of Katrina I suspect. We're praying for you, New
Orleans.

Irma sings Look Up... as I sip on my McCormick Irish Cream. Here's to
you New Orleans. May you survive but the odds are sure against you.

DSU reporter: 'Pick the best car you have.' No shit.

150 mph winds. Gusts of 184. Jesus. Cat 5.

John Boutte' - Why. A powerful song. Why indeed. This bowl is sinking...

Henry Butler plays Big Chief.