MAYBE I SHOULD JUST STOP WATCHING TELEVISION
Of course, I won’t. In this week’s LA CityBeat I even have a riff on how TV news came through with unexpected courage in the midst of Katrina.
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=2645&IssueNum=120

On the other hand, as I sat watching JetBlue 292 endlessly circling LAX, I had to wonder at my own part in this lifelong cathode conspiracy. Yes, it all came out okay in the end, and as Mr MR remarked in a subsequent email "let's take the jet blu pilot and just make him head of FEMA, the dude can handle an emergency!" But I had to ask myself was that what I really wanted, or was I vicariously waiting for the twisted metal and the all-consuming orange fireball? Sometimes it seems a little too hard and maybe needlessly narcissistic to be too openly honest with oneself.

BLAME IT ON ELLEN
And if I didn’t watch TV, would I know about the following? It was, in fact sent by a.g. ford, but, without TV, there’d be no Pat Robertson...
Pat Robertson on Sunday said that Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of expressing its anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this year’s Emmy Awards. "By choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these Hollywood elites have clearly invited God’s wrath," Robertson said on "The 700 Club" on Sunday. "Is it any surprise that the Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres’ hometown?"Robertson also noted that the last time Degeneres hosted the Emmys, in 2001, the September 11 terrorism attacks took place shortly before the ceremony."This is the second time in a row that God has invoked a disaster shortly before lesbian Ellen Degeneres hosted the Emmy Awards," Robertson explained to his approximately one million viewers. "America is waiting for her to apologize for the death and destruction that her sexual deviance has brought onto this great nation."
For more...
http://datelinehollywood.com/archives/2005/09/05/robertson-blames-hurricane-on-choice-of-ellen-deneres-to-host-emmys/

A PIECE OF THE ROCK
And, of course, it was only my TV that informed my how the insurance industry is already attempting to weasel out on claims by policy holders in New Orleans or Biloxi, asserting that it was not a hurricane that caused the damage (covered) but the resulting flood (not covered). Already Mississippi and Louisiana Attorney Generals are going after the cheap four-flushing bastards, but the odds may well be that, if forced to pay up, they'll declare bankruptcy and go running for a Bush government bailout.

MEANWHILE...
I’m still working on my Tokyo thoughts. Maybe a weekend treat.
And talking of Tokyo, here’s a video clip from Yukiko...
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/grandpajapan.wmv

And some retro-naked hippies from HCB...
http://www.nakedhippies.blogspot.com/

Also some Orwellian fun.
http://studentsfororwell.org/

The secret word is Tubular

CRYPTIQUE – We already put a man on the moon.

SO NOW WHAT?
As I watch, Rita turns into a level 5 and, while still recovering from my adventures in Tokyo, I wonder what the hell is going to be left at the end of all this? I also just realized that, before I went away, I forgot in the confusion to issue a warning that I was on BBC 3 in the UK in a show called Forty Years of F**k. Sorry about that, I hope it will repeat.

Meanwhile, it’s been brought to my attention that an Idaho weatherman on KPVI-TV who goes by the name of Scott Stevens seriously claims Japanese Yakuza used a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to cause Hurricane Katrina in a bid to avenge itself for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack - and that this technology will soon be wielded again to hit another U.S. city. For the full story...
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2005-09-20-wacky-weatherman_x.htm

I heard nothing about this while I was in Japan and I also cannot confirm that the President immediately hired Stevens to head up a massively funded division of Homeland Security. It would seem, though, the Yakuza notwithstanding, The National Enquirer thinks Georgie is back on the sauce...
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/63426

The secret word is Abandon

OKAY SO IT’S TUESDAY...
Just back from Tokyo Narita and boy are my arms tired (literally) – plus I guess a pun on the word "disorientated" comes into play. Very happy with the trip but pissed off that my faithful and longtime Zippo was confiscated under some asinine new fucking international law to defend us from terror. And then I land in the USA only to find that hurricane Rita is now bearing down on the Florida Keys and Panic Mk II is underway, my elderly cat has fleas for the first time in 12 years and is very unhappy, and then a thunderstorm cracks over LA just as I’m looking to sleep. And what is Bill Clinton up to? I guess a coupe d’etat is to too much to hope for.

I did, however, get a couple of super-cool Deviants t-shirts in the mail from this firm in the UK that is definitely worth checking out. No, I’m not making any money, but I did get a couple of free ones. http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-DEVIANTS-T-SHIRT_W0QQitemZ7542866066QQcategoryZ42443QQcmdZViewItem

More about my Oriental adventures when I have gathered my scattered wits, attended to crucial email, and generally debriefed myself.

The secret word is Jetboy