OK, in the last few days, I've written about silly, inconsequential topics like hamburgers, sports, music, and volcano cakes. Now, onto something that's very timely and very important: hurricane relief.

By now, everyone knows of the devastation and destruction brought on by Hurricane Katrina, so there's nothing I can say that hasn't already been stated more eloquently by someone else. So I will simply re-quote James Lileks, who wrote the following at the very end of last year in regards to the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia:

It's not for the dead we send the money, of course – it's for those whose lives have been scoured down to the bone, but you can't help but think that your contribution somehow mitigates the awful numbers. It doesn't. And if your money makes its way to a small village, and ends up as a box of clean underwear and toothpaste and batteries and aspirin dropped in the lap of a man who watched his entire family scraped off the face of the earth and swallowed by the brutal, implacable and mindless hand of nature, well, know that it probably won't make much difference. It can't. But someone has to get him clean underwear and aspirin. You there, with the drawers full of Jockeys and Bayer: cough up.

Yes, the death and destruction from Katrina is only a fraction of that which the tsunami wrought, but the sentiment remains the same: the damage and loss of life is terrible, and we who have the opportunity to help out, should.

There are a number of ways in which we can contribute to the relief efforts; InstaPundit has a round-up of charities that are assisting the victims of Katrina, as does Network for Good. Every little bit helps.

Yeah, this whole "Koran flushing" story--which has fueled Anti-American riots in Afghanistan to the point that 15 people have been killed--is probably one that you'll want to keep an eye on, especially now that Newsweek is admitting that the story wasn't entirely credible.

Austin Bay has a righteously indignant analysis of the whole situation, and Instapundit has links/posts a'plenty. I says check 'em out.

I reiterate something I wrote eight months ago, when the whole forged CBS documents story blew up, thanks to the blogs:

If these allegations prove to be true, it's a serious blow to the credibility of several mainstream media outlets and to the profession as a whole. And, if true, it goes to show that professionals in the journalism industry are, at best, lazy, and at worst, liars and manipulators. And, if true, it's further proof that I chose the wrong major in college, and that's the thing that really bothers me right now. For a long time, I actually wanted to be a newsman.

The same rings true today. I'm really starting to think that I would've been better served with a degree in...oh, I dunno...beekeeping.

Yes, the subject line is a quote from The Big Lebowski, and yes, it's in reference to this story about the crazy lady who claimed she found a finger in her Wendy's cup of chili. Turns out it was, as many believed it to be, a dirty rotten hoax, in an attempt to score a huge settlement from Wendy's.

Silly woman. Don't even think you can bring down Dave Thomas' square-pattied empire.

(You think that title was ridiculously lame...I was originally going to go with "There's a doin's transpirin', down near the ol' Trade Center." Geez, give me a break, it's early.)

So the big news last week in NYC was that plans for the Freedom Tower had to be redesigned due to some major security concerns with the original design. It's a shame that the whole rebuilding process is being derailed by politicians' infighting and crybaby antics from the lead architects and designers (in the first link, the Daily News rightly calls the Childs-Libeskind collaboration a "shotgun marriage." Ha!)

I've been following the whole process of rebuilding the World Trade Center from the very beginning, and I actually liked the Libeskind-Childs design for the most part. However, in the last year, I've been hearing an idea that's so utterly unimaginative and wholly ridiculous that I couldn't possibly support it...until now:

There's talk of rebuilding the Twin Towers.

Now, I imagine it's too late to convince the powers that be to reconsider, but this seems to be a growing sentiment in the City. Even Donald Trump thinks they should rebuild the Twin Towers...but despite hearing that, I still find myself liking the idea more and more.

Of course, websites have been popping up to promote this sort of thing, complete with detailed (yet amateur-ish) building designs. I happen to like this design the best...most likely because it includes plans for lasers and "top secret" weapons, making it sound like it was conceived by a 14-year old (and the website looks like it was designed by a 16-year old with mad web design skillz). But, seriously, I like the design this site offers up--I think the arches add a lot to the original towers, and I do like the symbolic heights of 1,490 and 1,776 feet. See for yourself:



So I'm officially jumping on the bandwagon. Rebuild the Twin Towers!! (And don't forget to put lots of lasers on them!)

Human Rights Watch has a must-see section on their website called Darfur Drawn: The Conflict in Darfur Through Children's Eyes. (Link via Powerline)

Sudanese children were given notebooks and crayons and were allowed to draw whatever they chose--they were given no suggestions and no direction whatsoever--and the images that they produced tell of the horrors of the genocide in Darfur that will forever be seared into their young minds. Here's an example of such (the website includes comments from the kids that give context to their drawings):



And to think that when I drew pictures growing up, they were happy pictures, with billowy white clouds, bright yellow suns showering rays in every which way, shiny happy people holding hands (as the song goes), and not a care in the world in sight.

This whole thing absolutely breaks my heart.

John McCandlish Phillips writes a wonderful article in today's WaPo that says out loud what I've been thinking for quite a while now: what's up with the spiteful Evangelical bashing as of late? What have I and other Evangelicals like me done to be deserving of adjectives such as 'dangerous' and 'frightening'...to be deserving of accusations of starting a 'full-scale jihad' here in the States? Phillips--an Evangelical himself, and a former writer at the New York Times--expresses my sentiments exactly when he writes:

In more than 50 years of direct engagement in and observation of the major news media I have never encountered anything remotely like the fear and loathing lavished on us by opinion mongers in these world-class newspapers in the past 40 days. If I had a $5 bill for every time the word "frightening" and its close lexicographical kin have appeared in the Times and The Post, with an accusatory finger pointed at the Christian right, I could take my stack to the stock market.

It's a good read, and I encourage you to check it out. I'd write more now, but I gotta run. Needless to say, this recent trend has been deeply disturbing to me. And though I'm clearly in one camp in this emerging culture war, I hate the fact that it's coming to this; I hate that it's being called a "culture war" in the first place, and that it looks like it's just going to get uglier and more divisive as time goes on.

It's somewhat-old news now, but did you hear about how Laura Bush slayed the audience at the White House Correspondents' Association this weekend?

I'd seen or heard a few references to it yesterday, but didn't get the whole story until I saw the front page of the Daily News yesterday on my way home from work. The article itself is a highly entertaining read, as is the round-up from the WaPo (reg req'd), which includes a link to some footage of her stand-up routine.

Say what you will about her husband, but you can't deny that Laura's a class act...and a very funny one, at that. I absolutely adore her.

Doug and I were cracking up last night over her Chippendales bit...so much, in fact, that it inspired us to watch a video of an old friend's Chippendales audition.

The good folks in the Idaho State Legislature apparently have a lot of time on their hands, but no matter: this resolution commending Napoleon Dynamite is still "pretty sweet." And by "pretty sweet," I do mean "freakin' hilarious."

My favorite part:

WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of Their Lives!"

I absolutely loved Napoleon Dynamite, but I don't know that it paints a terribly flattering picture of the state of Idaho. I guess it's good to see that their state legislature has a sense of humor about it all.

Oh, Idaho, you attention-starved state, you.

(Hat tip to Doug for forwarding the link to me)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--I wish I was half as good a writer as James Lileks is (yes, I know he's a professional and has been doing it for years, but still). Whereas I yammered on and on earlier about my own recollections of Pope John Paul II, Lileks makes a short yet brilliant observation (you have to scroll down to his "4/4 Update" halfway down the page). I urge you to check it out yourself, but in the meantime, here's a sample of what he writes:

The Pope has shoes? Of course; shoes of the fisherman, metaphorical shoes. But real ones? You never think of the Pope putting on his shoes, tying the laces, buffing out a blemish.

There are definitely times when I feel like my writing is going to be relegated to this silly LJ for the rest of my life. Reading Lileks--as much as I love reading him--is one of those times.

As news of Pope John Paul II's death has flooded the mediasphere these past few days, I've been learning quite a bit about a man whom I knew very little about up until now.

If I'm not mistaken, I first learned about the pope--meaning the papacy in general, but also John Paul II in particular--back in '92 or '93 when I'd read that Sinead O'Conner had ripped up a picture of him on Saturday Night Live. That would make sense, since I was a good little Protestant Christian, and therefore knew nothing about the head of the Catholic church (though somehow I DID know a good deal about SNL at such an early age).

So my only recollections of the Pope over the past 13 years or so are, as you can imagine, that of an old, frail man with a weak, gravely voice, either giving the sign of the cross or reciting the Mass in Latin. It's been very surprising--and very telling of my ignorance--to hear that this guy used to be quite charming and charismatic when he first started out. Revolutionary, even. That he traveled the world--unheard of for the "prisoner of the Vatican"--and that he drew enormous, euphoric crowds as though he were a rock star. That he was a poet, a playwright, and a Ph.D in Philosophy in his pre-papacy days. And that he's given a great deal of credit for helping to bring about the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. (I blame my ignorance in this area partially on the fact that our history books in school came out just a few years after the events of the late '80s, and so they didn't offer much in the way of historical analysis, just a mere stating of the major facts.)

So it's been good to learn more about a man whose life has been an inspiration for countless others around the world. Like Tracy, though I can't say that I agreed with him on some of the issues of the Christian faith (church as an institution vs. church as the people, or the whole pope = vicar of Christ thing), I certainly admire and respect him for all that he's done in the name of the Gospel.

My heart goes out to all those who lost their church father this weekend.