Why they shoot messengers #2

The right message needs the right messenger.

Congressman Virgil Goode, a republican from Virginia, has the right message, but he's not the right messenger.

See, Mr. Goode is opposed to the plans of congressman-elect Keith Ellison from Minnesota to have his photo taken with his right hand on the Quran - the holy book of Islam, simulating his swearing-in ceremony. (For the record, the House is sworn in together, in a mass-ceremony, where they just raise their right and and affirm to support the Constitution of the United States. The photo-op with the person doing the swearing-in and their family/friends/gay lovers, etc., is totally ceremonial, so Ellison will be posing with the Quran for a photo, not taking the oath of office with it. Christians traditionally pose with their hand on the Bible, so what's the big deal? To Muslims, the Quran is their Bible, so it's one in the same, right? Right. Thank you, drive thru.)

So this is not a big deal - rather, it should not be a big deal.

But Goode wants some pub, and he's getting it.

And distorting his message in the process.

See, Keith Ellison is a Muslim. He converted in college.

And while a few bad apples often spoil the whole darn bunch, Ellison has said, publicly, he's no fan of terrorists. And he's refused to get into a war of words with Goode, taking the high road, doing the right thing and not adding fuel to a fire that didn't need lit to begin with. Ellison is being smart.

Goode, however, won't take that sitting down. Goode, for the record, is not anti-Muslim. His message is about immigration reform, and how it needs fixed, otherwise we're all in big trouble.

And he's right.

Attaching this message, however, to Ellison's swearing-in, is wrong. Here's why:

In a letter sent to his constituents, Goode included the following paragraph:

"The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."

The problem with this message being attached to this issue:

Ellison was born in Detroit.

DOH!

Happy 1st Day of Winter

Ways a Geek Prepares for Winter

1. In space there are no seasons.
2. Switches over to his cold weather Linux distro.
3. Hastens plans to complete weather control device.
4. Apply for that job at the call center in steamy Bangalore.
5. Put computer outside for extra cooling.
6. Stores his nuts in an old AT form factor case.
7. Increases caffeine intake to stave off hibernation instinct.
8. Turns up monitor brightness to avoid winter depression.
9. Apply an extra layer of tin foil on the basement walls.
10. McGyver a solar heater out of AOL CDs and a cpu water cooling kit to cut down on heating costs.
11. Dresses in layers of t-shirts to fight the cold.

Well, * that * ended badly

So I finally finished watching the first season of 24 on DVD.

Meh.

I was excited when I started watching this, but it took me two months - seriously - from the first episode to the last episode.

At the end ... trying to watch the last four hours ... especially the final two ... in the words of Tom Griswold, "Man I don't care."

But I had to see it through.

So tonight I figured I'd watch the final two 'hours' ... and then was shocked when 22 minutes into the final hour, it was all wrapped up, nice, neat and tidy.

I so hate the quick wrap up.

(And yeah, had they ended it early and spent the last hour on recap / fallout / character recovery, I'd be bitching about that, too. I know. You don't have to point that out to me. I'm well aware I'm a hard-ass critic and difficult to please. That's because I'm not sheeple.)

Looking back, I don't see what all the hype was about (then again, I rarely see, and even more rarely, believe, hype of any type). Honestly ... the only character that surprised me, every plot twist, was David Palmer.

Too bad he's fictional.

I'd vote for him for President in a heartbeat.

So before I tackle the next set of DVD's... can anyone tell me ... Is Season 2 any better?

I'm a bad boyfriend

I'm a good friend.

I'm a bad boyfriend.

I'm learning this the older I get.

And as my desire for relationships diminishes.

Some people are great at relationships.

Not me.I suck at them.

One of my favorite songs has the greatest line about that, period:

"I guess that's why I just hate love
You're so pretty and I always fuck up"

("Dirty Numbers" - Autumn Under Echoes)

Because I do.

I can only think of one relationship I've had where that hasn't happened.

My ex-wife.

We were together for 8 years (roughly). We were married for five. She's one of my best friends these days.

As marriages go, we had our amazingly great times, and some not-so-amazing times. Good and bad, better and worse ... all that stuff.

And for a time she tried to be my wife in that sense of she did what I wanted, what I liked, what I was interested in, because she thought that's how things worked.

Then she got smart and realized that she's a person. With feelings. With wants. With desires. With dreams of more than just being some guy's wife.

And one day she rolled over and said to me, "you feel that?" ... meaning the distance between us. And we discussed it, as rational, intelligent adults, and realized we want different things out of life. And parted as friends.

Now, she's one of my best friends.

We talk about everything ... dates (before she remarried), relationships, sex, life, family ... all the good, the bad, the ugly, and the great.

And all without worrying about being judged for what we say, what we do or how we feel, and without the other being a blind cheering section for whatever crazy thoughts the other is currently having.

We've become, for each other, a great voice of reason that you know is telling you the truth, not what you want to hear.

That is the most liberating I've ever know.

And then I realized that I have another friend like that ... she and I have an amazing relationship that transcends all labels.

And she was a former girlfriend, too.So that's two in the column of "bad boyfriend becomes great friend."

Both are within a year of me, age wise (both younger, but within a year).

Then there are the two people I've dated since my divorce.

Both were younger than me by six years.

Neither relationship survived a year. For different reasons, but one big one:

I know I grew a lot from 30 to 35. Got rid of all the bullshit, all the games, all the crap you develop from the time you start having boyfriends/girlfriends until you realize that wrapping yourself around someone else, and their life, doesn't work.

And you emancipate yourself from being someones boyfriend or girlfriend.

You're a person.

And you stop worrying about it.

You live your life.

And hope to find someone to share it, short-term, long-term, forever, or for the night, depending on what you want at the time.

So I've decided I'm going to concentrate on being a friend rather than trying to find that one true soulmate and live a little, have some fun, and meet some great people.

Who wants to join me?

Top 10 Geek Breakup Lines

Geek Break Up Lines

1. (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail? R
   (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail? R
   (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail? F
   Relationship failed.
   
   
2. Now that Half Life 2 is out, I need to refocus my priorities.
   
   
3. You have been unsubscribed from my dating list. Please click this link to confirm.
   
   
4. I need a lover who understands that 20 hours a day on the Internet is normal.
   
   
5. I don't think we should date any more, but we can still be on each other's buddy lists.
   
   
6. I'd like to not spend so much time photoshopping your face out of our photos.
   
   
7. It's like in X-Men number 135, where Cyclops and Jean Grey (as The Phoenix)...
   
   
8. Let's face it. You love Intel, and I'm an AMD man. It's not going to work out.
   
   
9. What do you mean your EULA says that once I've removed the shrink wrap I can't return it?
   
   
10. So long and thanks for all the fish.

Song of the Day

"Love Disappears"
Jeffrey Gaines

I was gathering all the things I had to tell you
And found that there were more things I had to hide
Like lovers and tears,
doubts and fears
inside me

'Cause when you're away
There's nothing to say at all
'Cause when you're not here
Love disappears

I was dreaming of the last time we lied together
Seems whenever I need you you're across the sea
Pressured by peers,
sometimes it appears
you don't want me.

'Cause when you're away
There's nothing to say at all
'Cause when you're not here
Love disappears

Frame after frame,
the dream ends the same
Without you

'Cause when you're away
I've not much to say at all
'Cause when you're not here
Love disappears

You Can't Make This Shit Up

From the "You Can't Make This Shit Up" department:

I know where the two climbers missing from Mt. Hood are:

Seriously.

I saw this in a news report yesterday ... "Mr. Wampler" is a local climbing person in Oregon and was asked where he thought the two missing hikers might have gone.

Using his response, which I've quoted below, and my own amazing powers of deductive reasoning, I know where they are.

First, read this quote I pulled from Yahoo news yesterday:

Kelly James and his two colleagues are thought to have climbed the north face of Mount Hood and reached the 11,239-foot summit late in the day of Friday, and then tried to descend the gentler south face, passing through a rock and ice formation known as "the Pearly Gates," Wampler said.

"They didn't find it," he said.

Now prepare yourself for today's "Oh Eric" moment:

I don't think I'm making any waves here when I say they're dead.

They're dead.

And if they didn't find The Pearly Gates...

Then they're obviously in Hell.

(Yep. I said it.)

The Best Music of 2006

Eric's Top Ten Albums of 2006:

1. David Ford - I Sincerely Apologize For All The Trouble I've Caused.
   
2. Greg Joseph - American Diary
   
3. Bullet Jones - Bullet Jones
   
4. Tim Easton - Ammunition
   
5. Semi-Precious Weapons - The Magnetic EP
   
6. The Pillcrushers - Welcome To The World
   
7. KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope
   
8. Ray Davies - Other People's Lives
   
9. Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
   
10. Todd Snider - The Devil You Know
    

Eric's Most Listened To Albums of 2006

In addition to those ten listed above, these were in heavy rotation as well (listed alphabetically)

• Tim Easton - Break Your Mother's Heart
  
• Five For Fighting - Two Lights
  
• Jeffrey Gaines - Always Be
  
• Gomez - How We Operate
  
• Megan Palmer - Forget Me Not
  
• Beth Orton - Comfort Of Strangers
  
• Saving Jane - Girl Next Door
  
• Semi-Precious Weapons - The Precious EP
  
• Ryan Smith - Neil Avenue
  
• Janine Stoll - Everything You Gave Me
  
• Swig Tooth - Foreigners - Where Do They Come From?
  (this is my collection of live tracks, demos, rehearsals and unreleased tracks from Swig Tooth, Autumn Under Echoes and Aaron Tashjian's solo stuff that hasn't made the light of day. Being a band's official archivist has its perks!)
• Two Cow Garage - The Wall Against Our Back
  
• Weird Al - Straight Outta Lynwood
  
• X-Rated Cowboys - Saddest Day
  
• Kate York - Sadly Love
  

Random Acts of Kindness

So today I was roaming the mall with my daughter trying to coax some ideas out of her for Christmas.

She's eight and in that in-between stage of not a baby but not quite a grown-up kid yet. She's still between Care Bears and boys. Both are cute, and she likes both, but can't quite explain why on either.

So buying her presents isn't as easy as it used to be.

So we're walking around, looking for ideas. I headed to Target to get some photos printed (and found out Target doesn't have a photo lab at that location)

and then ...

... for no valid reason I can think of

... all I wanted to do

... was go over to the Salvation Army's "Angels Tree" we passed on the way into Target

... find a kid who wasn't going to have a good Christmas

... and buy whatever was on their list.

Not because it was an end to my shopping dilemma, because I always manage to find good gifts ... and honestly, I always spend a bit too much at Christmas, but hey, I work hard through the year and Christmas is a special time, and kids are only young once, so why not, eh?

In fact, one of Patti's friends described it as "The Orgy of Decadence" one year watching four kids demolish a pile of wrapped presents.

But like I said, they're only young once, and Christmas is special, and when we were together, Patti and I worked the extra hours to have the extra money to buy the extra stuff.

I know for me, wanting Christmas to be special, I guess it goes back to when I was like 11 or 12 ... we were living in the projects, and my mom was working part-time in one of the private clubs in town slinging beer at drunk Pollocks for not a whole lot of money ... the guys who were regulars there, and who knew us from the picnics the club had, would always pitch in and buy presents for us that they'd drop off, Santa-style, on the front door early Christmas morning.

And while mom never said where they came from, I know she wasn't making the kind of money that these gifts cost, and I saw them one year, too ... and the gig was up on Santa by that time in my life, anyway, despite what she said.

But as I stood there today, in the mall, surrounded by people going insane trying to find that perfect gift ... I was, as always, surprised by the total lack of humanity some of us show in our feeble attempts to give the most, have the biggest, best and/or brightest, or outdo whoever it is we always feel the need to one-up ...

And I just couldn't stop staring at that tree, full of kids who weren't going to have a good Christmas.

So I took my daughter over to the tree, explain to her how it worked, how there were kids who only got one or two things for Christmas, if they got anything at all.

Now before I go any further, I have to tell you this is a girl who always roots for the underdog. This is a girl who will feel sad for the animated figures in the anti-depressant drug ads. This is a girl who will find the most down and out Charlie Brown and befriend them.

She was totally into making sure someone else had a good Christmas. So we circled the tree and she found a girl her age who liked the stuff she liked and decided that we were going shopping for someone else.

And that's what we did.

We started at the toy store and picked up the game "Twister" which was on our girl's list.

Then we got her a pair of jeans and matching sweater and a Bratz art set.

Then we went to Borders to use the bathroom and found a couple of those watercolor paint books for her (she wanted a paint set, but we were having trouble finding that, so we went with the books).

And ran into my friend John Gatta who's a fixture there, and his lovely wife Maureen, who was working the register for the holidays.

Then we took the things we bought back to the Salvation Army stand in the mall, turned in our Angel card and the presents and went home.

Feeling a bit more in the holiday spirit.

And in the process, my daughter learned a great lesson about helping others.

And that made me feel pretty darn good, too.

Eric's 2006 Grammy Picks

49th Grammy Awards Nominees - And my picks to win.
(2005 Pics are here)

Record of the Year
(awarded to the artist)

[ ] Mary J. Blige - Be Without You
[ ] James Blunt - You're Beautiful
[X] Dixie Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice
[ ] Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
[ ] Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On

Who Should Win - David Ford - I Don't Care What You call Me
Who Will Win - Dixie Chicks

Album of the Year

[ ] Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way
[ ] Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
[ ] John Mayer - Continuum
[X] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
[ ] Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

Who Should Win - David Ford - I Sincerely Apologize For All The Trouble I've Caused
Who Will Win - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Song of the Year
(awarded to the songwriter)

[ ] Mary J. Blige - Be Without You
[ ] Carrie Underwood - Jesus Take The Wheel
[X] Dixie Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice
[ ] Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On
[ ] James Blunt - You're Beautiful

Who Should Win - David Ford - I Don't Care What You Call Me
Who Will Win - Dixie Chicks

Best New Artist

[X] James Blunt
[ ] Chris Brown
[ ] Imogen Heap
[ ] Corinne Bailey Rae
[ ] Carrie Underwood

Who Should Win - KT Tunstall, but I'm glad she's not nominated because whoever wins this turns into a one-hit wonder, never to be heard from again (see Starland Vocal Band; Debbie Boone; Christopher Cross; Sheena Easton; Bruce Hornsby; Jodie Watley; Marc Cohn; Arrested Development; Hootie & The Blowfish; Paula Cole [I still miss her]; Shelby Lynne; Maroon 5; et. al.)
Who Will Win - James Blunt, which is, dare I say, Beautiful (because we'll never have to hear from him again).

Female Pop Vocal Performance

[ ] Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man
[ ] Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
[ ] Sheryl Crow - You Can Close Your Eyes
[ ] Pink - Stupid Girl
[X] KT Tunstall - Black Horse And The Cherry Tree

Who Should Win - KT Tunstall
Who Will Win - KT Tunstall

Male Pop Vocal Performance

[ ] James Blunt - You're Beautiful
[ ] John Legend - Save Room
[ ] John Mayer - Waiting On The World To Change
[ ] Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren
[X] Daniel Powter - Bad Day

Who Should Win - John Legend
Who Will Win - Daniel Powter

Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal

[ ] The Black Eyed Peas - My Humps
[ ] Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark
[ ] The Fray - Over My Head (Cable Car)
[ ] Keane - Is It Any Wonder
[X] The Pussycat Dolls - Stickwitu

Who Should Win - Keane
Who Will Win - The Pussycat Dolls, even though I have no idea WTF the name of that song is. Speak English.

Pop Vocal Album

[ ] Christian Aguilera - Back To Basics
[ ] James Blunt - Back To Bedlam
[ ] Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River In Reverse
[X] John Mayer - Continuum
[ ] Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

Who Should Win - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
Who Will Win - That's Enough, John Mayer

Solo Rock Performance

[ ] Beck - Nausea
[ ] Bob Dylan - Someday Baby
[ ] John Mayer - Route 66
[ ] Tom Petty - Saving Grace
[X] Neil Young - Lookin' For A Leader

Who Should Win - Tom Petty
Who Will Win - Neil Young

Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal

[ ] COldplay - Talk
[ ] The Fray - How To Save A Life
[ ] The Racunteurs - Steady, As She Goes
[ ] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California
[X] U2 and Green Day - The Saints Are Coming

Who Should Win - The Fray
Who Will Win - U2 and Green Day

Hard Rock Performance

[ ] Buckcherry - Crazy Bitch
[X] Nine Inch Nails - Every Day Is The Same
[ ] System Of A Down - Lonely Day
[ ] Tool - Vicarious
[ ] Wolfmother - Woman

Who Should Win - Wolfmother
Who Will Win - Nine Inch Nails

Metal Performance

[ ] Lamb of God - Redneck
[ ] Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen
[ ] Ministry - Lies, Lies, Lies
[X] Slayer - Eyes of the Insane
[ ] Stone Sour - 30/30-150

Who Should Win - Slayer. No fuck maybes about it.
Who Will Win - Slayer

Rock Song
(Awarded to the songwriter)

[ ] Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
[ ] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California
[X] Neil Young - Lookin' For A Leader
[ ] Bob Dylan - Someday Baby
[ ] The Killers - When You Were Young

Who Should Win - Snow Patrol
Who Will Win - Neil Young

Rock Album

[ ] John Mayer Trio - Try
[ ] Tom Petty - Highway Companion
[ ] The Raconteurs - Broken Toy Soldiers
[ ] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
[X] Neil Young - Living With War

Who Should Win - Bullet Jones
Who Will Win - Neil Young

Alternative Music Album

[ ] Artic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
[ ] The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
[X] Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
[ ] Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
[ ] Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Who Should Win - Thom Yorke
Who Will Win - Gnarls Barkley

For The Record: I don't vote on Country, Instrumental, R&B or Rap because I don't like enough of it to be considered a qualified intelligent voter. Hmmm .... wish more people would act like that, especially around November.

Give Pat Green the country awards, give Prince the R&B awards.

For The Record, Part 2:

I don't vote on Rap and Instrumental awards for these two reasons:

• Music needs words. There are too many struggling songwriters for there to be awards for not writing lyrics. Writing instrumentals is just being a lazy musician.
  
  
• I say it every year: You can't spell CRAP without RAP.
  

Today is Pearl Harbor Day.

Today, if you're an American, and you see a Japanese person, you're legally allowed to to sneak up on them and punch them in the face.

Hard.

Then skip away and say, "Payback, motherfucker."

There are only about 500 survivors of that horrible day left alive. They're all above the age of 80. They gather every five years to honor the memory of their fallen comrades.

We must never forget.

That is all.

---

DISCLAIMER

Taking free legal advice from this blog, or anything else you read on the interwebnet, means you're a moron.

No, not Ian Moran, he's a hockey player and it's spelled differently.

If you're Ian Moran, you need to visit Kelly.

I am The Patch Bitch

The Ohio State University requires capitalized articles.

So we'll do it OSU style today.

Paul McCartney may be The Walrus.

Eminem may be The Real Slim Shady.

Ben Klingston is, without a doubt, The Mall Guard (shout out to my Pittsburgh Peeps!)

Al Gore might be The inventor of The Interwebnet.

And President Bush might still be The decider.

But this week, I top them all.

I am The Patch Bitch.

I'm patching 934 servers.

Boo-yeah. I need sleep.

Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.

Andy Dick isn't Funny.

Apparently, someone thinks Andy Dick is funny.

It's not me.

In fact, he could be in the new Tim Wilson song, "I Might Be Wrong" which features a great line, "Everybody Loves Raymond . . . . . except for me."

I don't love Ray Ramano. I never watched his show. I never liked his standup. His show is everything I hate about sitcoms - every character is funny.

Does every person in your life, your family and your circle of friends spout funny, sarcastic, or biting one-liners? In fact, is your life comprised of nothing but the exchange of such banal banter?

I didn't think so.

Why people would want to come home and watch that is beyond me.

Why people would feel the need to one one episode, let alone an entire season - or all eight seasons - on DVD is beyond me.

And why people think Andy Dick is funny is also beyond me, and what I started to write about.

See, apparently, because he hasn't made a dent in Hollywood in a week, which is the lifespan of a comic these days (Hello George Lopez? 20 years of amazing standup turned into a bad TV show), Dick felt he needed to try to pull a Michael Richards, so he shouted nigger into a microphone at a comedy club.

Andy - I've watched Michael Richards. You're no Michael Richards. Hell, you can't even make the news in America for your blatant attempt to get publicity - even bad publicity. I had to pull this from the Canadian Broadcasting Company's website while looking for Terrance & Phillip news.

---

Comedian apologizes for repeating racial slur
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 | 11:05 AM ET
CBC Arts

Less than a month after comedian Michael Richards was caught in a racist tirade against black hecklers at an L.A. club, another white comedian has apologized for using the same racial slur.

Andy Dick issued an apology through his publicist on Tuesday after celebrity website TMZ.com — which posted video of the Richards incident — reported on the former NewsRadio star's impromptu appearance at a comedy club last weekend.

According to TMZ, Dick was heckling comedian Ian Bagg at L.A.'s Improv on Saturday. Dick suddenly jumped onstage, where the two men began discussing Richards.

Before leaving the stage, Dick suddenly grabbed the microphone and shouted the same racial slur Richards had used in an attempt to joke about the incident. The move provoked gasps from the audience, TMZ said.

"I chose to make a joke about a subject that is not funny," Dick said in his statement, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"In an attempt to make light of a serious subject, I have offended a lot of people, and I am sorry for my insensitivity."

---

If he'd only apologize for people calling him a comic, then the world would truly be a better place.

The countdown has begun

I can hardly wait.

Glad I have that Barnes & Noble membership card so I can save 10 percent on this literary masterpiece:

---

Former Beverly Hills 90210 star Tori Spelling is set to pen her life story, according to reports.

The actress, who is pregnant with her first child, says the memoir will set the record straight on growing up in the spotlight.

She says she will address her former hard-partying ways, rumours that she has had plastic surgery and her previous relationships.

"I have a million stories to tell," said Spelling. "

---

Oh, I can hardly wait.

Good timing is everything.

Once again, Ray Nagin makes news.

This time by opening an office and hiring a regional planner to direct the official recovery for New Orleans from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

That's good news.

But isn't 15 months AFTER the hurricane a bit late to decide to create the office and hire a guy?

To quote Ron Simmons, "Damn."

Fifteen months after the fact ... to me, that's a bit much.

But I do love the fact that Ray Nagin still gets a pass from the rest of the media despite his total failure during the hurricane and its aftermath.

What kills me is you don't see, or hear, people from Texas, Mississippi or the rest of Louisiana whining about how the government didn't protect them, or why the government hasn't built them a new house with at least a PS2 and a plasma TV in every room.

Oh, yeah, silly me. That's because most of those outside of New Orleans realize it's not the government's job to take care of them from cradle to grave.

Anyway ... apparently the good mayor of Chocolate City needed some help.

---

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Dec 4, 4:15 AM ET

NEW ORLEANS - More than 15 months after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin is ready to open a city office to direct New Orleans' recovery, with a leading regional planner and disaster recovery expert in charge.

Ed Blakely, who helped coordinate recovery planning in California after two natural disasters and in New York City after Sept. 11, has been chosen to lead what is expected to be a five-person office and to serve as the leader for marshaling a recovery process that critics have derided as too slow.

City Hall planned a formal announcement Monday. Blakely's appointment was confirmed Sunday by a Nagin spokeswoman.

The mayor also has hired Becca O'Brien, a former policy director for the federal government's Gulf Coast recovery operation, as his executive counsel.

In September, Nagin marked the first 100 days of his second term by announcing the city would create a recovery office. Last month, he told the city council he had a high-profile person in mind to lead it.

---

Hey Becky Bohrer ... why didn't you ask the good mayor why it took him 15 months to get this rolling?

Oh, wait, that's good journalism.

Besides, he'd probably play the race card if you did.