2010-05-04

defrog: (falco)
2010-05-04 09:45 am

YOUTUBE SURVIVOR SERIES # 82: BAREFOOT IN THE RAIN IN GERMANY

Damen und Herren, it’s Michael Holm und his sideburns.



[Via Boris Sudeley]

Dancing twin go-go girls included.

Tanzen und tanzen und tanzen,

Dieses ist dF

defrog: (death trip)
2010-05-04 02:14 pm

NASHVILLE IS UNDERWATER

I guess I should say something about my hometown, which is basically under water at the moment.



The good news is that everyone I know is okay and had the fortune of living on the right side of Old Hickory Dam. But obviously, others haven’t been nearly so lucky.

I’m assuming this is getting a lot of coverage in the states. I’m not sure how much. On the one hand, it’s a major flood with double-digit casualties in a major metropolitan area. On the other hand, it’s Nashville.

Still, CNN ran the floating schoolhouse on I-24. So I guess that’s something.

I admit, I don’t really know what to say about it myself. I guess the striking thing – apart from the surreal feeling that comes from seeing the streets of downtown filled with the Cumberland – is how so many people got caught in the flood waters because they waited until it was too late.

Because, see, I can completely understand why – natural disasters just don’t happen in Nashville, apart from the random tornado. And being located in a basin next to a river, we’ve seen flash floods before – but they’re usually minor.

So if I still lived there, I’d have shrugged it off too, and depending on where I lived, I’d probably be on the roof now trying to hitch a ride on a Jet Ski.

Anyway, this is easily the worst thing to hit Nashville in my lifetime (i.e. 44.5 years). Which just goes to show: all the bad stuff on the news doesn’t always happen Somewhere Else. So pay attention.

When the levee breaks,

This is dF
defrog: (benjamins)
2010-05-04 11:04 pm

WHY DOES OBAMA LET NORTH KOREAN HIPPIES BLOW UP OUR OIL RIGS AND THEN LIE ABOUT IT?



I haven’t had a lot to say about the Gulf Coast Oil Rig Disaster of 2010, because what really is there to say?

Then the conspiracy theories started – namely, the Obama/Liberals Blew It Up To Stop Drilling theory. Or, better yet, the North Korea/Obama Cover-Up theory. So now I feel a little more qualified to comment.

I guess the political posturing was inevitable, of course, given the whole “drill baby drill” mantra of 2008, as well as the possibility that this might somehow actually be all Dick Cheney’s fault. So now it’s payback for the GOP who’ll have to eat their words about offshore drilling, right?

Well, no. I don’t think the oil rig disaster will make a difference to them, because look – if yr going to pretend that drilling will make America energy-independent when plenty of credible analysis reports say otherwise, you don’t need a reason to do it, and the biggest oil spill ever is no reason to stop doing it. Texas governor Rick Perry is already deploying the “You can’t make an omelette without eggs” defense.

And then there’s the “This is Obama’s Katrina” theory, which basically postulates that the problem isn’t oil spills, it’s how fast the federal govt gets them cleaned up.

The Katrina comparison is bollocks, of course. But so is the claim that no domestic terror attacks happened when Bush was president. And that’s a GOP talking point.

So no, I don’t expect anyone to change their tune on this anytime soon.

PRODUCTION NOTE: Oil rig photo from this collection on Americablog.

Everything goes better with oil,

This is dF