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I'm not here to expostulate on the situation in N.O., nor am I a great supporter of Michael Moore, but sometimes the man makes sense. As for the question as to why those who stayed behind, did in fact, stay behind -- it's like I told

serialkarma I can only presume that Payless had run out of red ruby pumps for those who planned to click their heels together in the absense of affordable transporation. I understand that some people don't understand the concept of people without automotive means or bottomless pockets, but surprise suprise, we're not all in the 1% tax bracket.

Right.

Moving onward!

I am bereft of writing desire right now, maybe next week I will be inspired, but I enjoyed doing the

audiography Top 5 so much that I just had to do it again.

Audioslave/Soundgarden 'Black Hole Sun' (live) – Many, many years ago, when some of you were still in nappies, there was this thing called grunge. The poster children for this were Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and then there was Soundgarden, who I liked for this single alone. In the video they burn Barbie dolls. How can you not love that? Performed live by Chris Cornell and the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine.

The Black Crows 'She Talks to Angels' – There are two versions of this song; I prefer the other version, but this song is so beautiful that I had to post the version I have. I'm not a Black Crows fan, the brawling brothers thing is so passé, but they can shake their money makers when the urge strikes them.

Jamie Cullum 'Get Your Way' – This is the first single off of Jamie's second LP, Catching Tales, which shall be out next month. I've talked about Jamie's work quite a bit over the last year; he's prodigiously talented, and his style isn't pop-jazz or jazz-defiled (as some jazz aficionados might claim), it's just a boy and his piano, doing what the fuck he wants. How can you not like that?

Kanye West 'Gold Digger' – Ah, Kanyezee. Known as much for his talent as his enormous ego, Kanye West, is truly a multi-faceted rapper. However, whether or not his talent lives up to his mouth only time will tell. His second album, Late Registration finally dropped on Tuesday six weeks after the original release date, we'll see what happens next. If nothing else the single samples Jamie Foxx doing his Ray Charles thing and is way hot.

Maria McKee 'If Love is a Red Dress (Hang me in rags) – I don't know how I procured this song or when. I don't know if someone gave it to me or I just happened to like the title. I don’t even know the artist by name – after the first 1000 to 1500 songs things start getting real hazy, but what I do know is that this is perfect for lounging on the sofa and cutting up photographs of your ex.

Bonus song: Snow Patrol 'The Blower's Daughter' (a cover of Damien Rice) – It's not on my immediate top five, only because SP are always being played by me, but

musesfool mentioned that she was a big fan of Gary & Co., and it would never do not to share their greatness.

ETA: Yes, I re-uploaded the Brokeback Mountain Trailer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I realize (though it too me a minute) that you specifically disabled the comments on your NOLA post to avoid conflict, but I wanted to clarify one thing: Before Katrina, NOLA refined 25% of the oil this country uses. That resource is gone. In addition, up to 1/3 of the oil that we use entered through the port of New Orleans.

So, despite it being, overall, an impoverished city (and LA an impoverished state), it is a city of both strategic and economic importance. HUGE strategic and economic importance. And the skyrocketing gas prices (at the pump) is both an indication of economic uncertainty, and a reflection of this. But note that oil prices (per barrel) have shot up worldwide -- I think they've doubled from roughly 35 (or is it 40?) to 70.

Throw peak oil (http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/) into the mix, and, well the pooch may be well and truly screwed. (Yes, that site is fairly alarmist, but it explains the concept of peak oil well. And, frankly, I think we should be alarmed.)

So, sorry for the didactic nature of this post, but I couldn't help but respond, especially as you specifically called out oil in your Katrina post.

And hey, if you want depressing theories (in addition to the race/class calculus involved in not getting timely relief to NOLA and elsewhere), check this out:

(From From the Wilderness (http://fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090205_bet_life.shtml), via Wolcott (http://jameswolcott.com/).

"Bottom line: my assessment is that New Orleans is never going to be rebuilt and that US domestic oil production will never again reach pre-Katrina levels. The infrastructure is gone, the people are gone, and the US economy will be on life support very, very quickly. If people are griping at $5.00 gasoline what will they do when it’s $8.00? $10.00? Start shooting (the wrong people)? How difficult is it to rebuild in that kind of social climate? And if US oil production does not soon exceed pre-Katrina levels then the US economy is doomed anyway. It’s a catch-up game now. I think it’s quite likely that the Bush administration is responding so ineptly in part because it is in a complete crisis mode realizing that the entire United States is on the brink of collapse and there’s very little they can do about it. The Bush administration doesn’t know how to build things up, only blow them up. They aren’t worrying about New Orleans because they’re frantically triaging the rest of the nation and deciding what can be saved elsewhere."

I stand corrected.