I'm from Barcelona

Well, it's only fitting that on the very same day I'm flying back to my hometown for a quick visit to attend a friend's wedding, I find out about this new band. I'm from Barcelona are not, in fact, Catalonian, but Swedish --although you'd probably never guess from their sunny pop sound, their contagiously fun hippy attitude and, well, yes, their band name. The luminous melodies, hippy clapping beats and lush orchestration of their debut EP Sing! are at times reminiscent of The Hidden Cameras or The Polyphonic Spree. Check out highlight 'We're from Barcelona.' Let's see if I get my friends to Sing! this with me this weekend...

Meet the Press

Tim Russert interviewed the President of Jefferson Parish, Aaron Broussard, on 'Meet the Press' this morning. Watch him tell the story of his co-worker's mother:
The Cavalry Didn't Come [Wonkette.com]
Broussard: 'We Have Been Abandoned By Our Own Country' [Crooks and Liars]

If this doesn't move you, then you surely must agree with Bush when he said to Mike Brown, head of FEMA: "Brownie, you are doing a heck of a job."

In fact, here's a suggestion for the Democrats: run an ad with just Broussard's words, and then cut to Bush congratulating the FEMA's director in New Orleans on Friday. No voiceover, no editing, nothing. Just those two clips, one after the other. Nothing sums up the disconnect between this administration and reality better than that.

I never thought I'd link to a Fox News segment...

...but this is just a historic document. Watch Shep Smith and Geraldo Rivera report live from New Orleans and tear to shreds any attempts at Republican spin from Hannity and Colmes last night: video link from Crooks and Liars. Also check out Talk Left.

UPDATE: Fortunately, this is one of many examples of the press doing their job, confronting authorities with tough questions and calling things by their name: Jack Shafer over at Slate has a great summary of this celebrated and overdue comeback of journalism as a public service in the US.

Natural disaster? No, this is criminal negligence

I've been watching in utter disbelief the chaos and lack of preparation or coordination in relief efforts in New Orleans for days after hurricane Katrina hit. Five days later, and thousands of people are still stranded, with no food or water, many of them dying --in the streets, in the superdome, in the convention center...

The mp3 link of the day is a clip from an emotional interview with the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, last night on local radio station WWL. Here's a quote:

"After 9/11 we gave the president unprecented powers to take care of New York and those other places.... you mean to tell me that a place where thousands of people that have died and thousands more people are dying, we can't figure out how to get them help. . . Somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down and figure this out."

And here's his call to arms:

"Organize people to write letters, and make calls to their congressmen, to the President [...] Flood their offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous!
I don't want to see anybody do anymore more goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. [...] Get off your asses and do something!"

Amen.

Make your donations to the American Red Cross or NGO or charity of your choice.