or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 28, 2005
Bob Harris Causes Crime
Here's an exchange between Mike Brown and Rep. Steve Buyer at the Congressional hearings yesterday:
BUYER: So I’d like to know why did the president’s federal emergency assistance declaration of August 27th not include the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines?BROWN: …[I]f a governor does not request a particular county or a particular parish, that’s not included in the request...
BUYER: Let me ask this. Since you went through the exercise in Pam, was that not shocking to you that the governor would exclude New Orleans from the declaration?
BROWN: Yes.
We may never know for sure, but I think it's almost certain Buyer's question was inspired by this September 7th post on Bob Harris' site, pointing out the weird exclusion of Southeastern Louisiana from Bush's emergency declaration. Few people if any had noticed this before him, and the post zipped all over the world, Bob was asked about it by the BBC, etc. I suspect it also made its way to Congress.
Best of all, Brown apparently was lying about what Governor Blanco requested. Thus, Bob may be directly responsible for getting the ex-head of FEMA to perjure himself.
I don't see how anyone could argue this isn't a beautiful, beautiful thing.
(Via.)
Posted at September 28, 2005 09:31 AM | TrackBackBrown himself is a beautiful, beautiful thing. He must have been the person the phrase "a piece of work" was coined to described.
Posted by: jonj at September 28, 2005 08:02 PMHe's a piece of something all right.
The thing is, I'd like to be shocked and appalled at him. But I'm only appalled. This is what Brown needs to do to live with himself.
Brown has so much blood on his hands that he has to make himself believe he's not actually responsible.
And, of course, the Bush administration is letting him stew so they can duck the blame themselves. If only this weren't the oldest story in the history of evil, I could be shocked.
Posted by: Sully at September 28, 2005 08:10 PMWow. You've been saying Bob Harris leads an unusually interesting life, but I had no idea he was so....powerful. And it troubles me. I'm not sure he will always use his power for good. He's already responsible for the nonsensically annoying words "pudu...pu-du you think you're fooling" running through my head (to the tune of Love Me Like A Rock) on a regular basis. His is the only blog which has ever infected me with an earworm of a song that doesn't even exist.
Posted by: Maud at September 29, 2005 07:39 AMThat guy who beat Harris at Jeopardy! must be a toadstool now.
And, indeed, that flight of pudu lyricism is my own. It is part of a larger pudu opus engendered by the unfortunate mating of Bob Harris and Paul Simon in my head. (I'm not responsible for what goes on in there, I swear.)
When I was grown more than a foot
(grown beyond a foot)
And the devil would call my name
(maybe a foot-and-a-half)
I'd say now, Pudu
(puda)
Pudu you think you're foolin'
(Pudu mephistophiles)
I'm a crepuscular ungulate
(crepuscular ungulate)
I could poke you with these horns of mine
My mama loves me
She loves me
She get on her tiny knees and nudge me
Oh, she loves me like a buck
She rocks me like a ruminant and loves me
She love me love me love me love me
Posted by: Maud at September 30, 2005 06:42 AM
