Cap’n Ken’s Homespun Wisdom

The aftermath of Katrina is horrible beyond imagination. The storm has forever changed New Orleans; turned all of its residents into refugees and destroyed their livelihoods. The city”s future is uncertain, and the same can be said for Slidell, Gulfport and Biloxi.

It”s personal to me, of course. But the scope of the tragedy is truly staggering.

Yet most people around me here in Atlanta seem unaffected, unmoved. Friends, of course, are sympathetic, but too many people are just going about life as normal.

I can”t stomach hearing the guy at the desk behind me talking today about how the guy who won Survivor lives next door to his brother. I hate seeing a group of people laughing and chatting about the ridiculous things people involve themselves with.

In the wake of September 11, everybody took pause and put aside their stupid little concerns. I feel today like I did then, but apparently I”m in the minority.

I cannot let the story of Hurricane Katrina pass without noting the impact of our bullshit “homeland security” hysteria on the situation.

When the evacuation of New Orleans was announced, the city established the Superdome as a shelter “of last resort”. Anybody who couldn”t get themselves out of town - namely the poor and some tourists - was welcome to ride things out there.

By noon today, CNN was showing a long line of people waiting to get into the Superdome. As of 9 p.m. tonight, the lines are still there.

Estimates put the total Superdome crowd at about 20,000 - 30,000. So why is it taking so long to get everybody inside?

“Homeland Security”. Each and every person coming into the Superdome is being searched by the National Guard. No “sharp objects” are allowed. I saw a shot of a Guardsman patting down a young black woman to make sure she wasn”t holding any banned objects. Meanwhile, the crowd swelled outside in the growing rainstorm.

For at least ten hours today, the scene outside the Dome looked like this:

The thousands of people - mostly poor and black - seeking refuge from a storm threatening to destroy their lives were subjected to the kind of pointless demonstration of “security measures” that will do more to harm America than any terrorist could.

Meanwhile, the hundreds of National Guard troops who spent the day searching the harmless citizens could have been put to good use helping the elderly get to shelters; guarding against potential post-evacuation/pre-storm looting or just getting some rest before what will surely be a sucky next few days for them.

But no. We have to make sure no weapons get into the Superdome.

As for the storm itself; take care down there, people. It don”t look good.

Update: Fox News had some Guardsmen on live around 10:30 (still lines to get in) showing some of the “contraband” they”d collected. It included a wrench, scissors and nail clippers. The reporter asked why they don”t allow nail clippers (”They have pointed ends”), but didn”t ask the question “Isn”t that a bit excessive?”. Ah - reportage.

How much would a Good Old Boy Tennessee fan with more money than sense pay to see a football game? Apparently - $40 million.

The story below is from the Knoxville paper. Please note that I am stealing their content and publishing it illegally on The Wisdom. I am doing this because the newspaper is employing the really bad business model of not letting anybody see their content - or advertising - without providing a no-doubt fake email address, fake physical address and fake answers to questions about themselves so the newspaper can fool advertisers into thinking their audience is bigger/better than it actually is.

$20 million offer could lure UT to play at Bristol

By DAVE HOOKER
August 25, 2005

Bruton Smith has never been afraid to put his money where his mouth is. The combination of the two has the University of Tennessee interested.

The chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports is trying to jumpstart an old idea: a football game between UT and Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway. Why might it succeed now when it failed before? The stakes have been raised.

“Twenty million to each team,” Smith said. “Universities always want money so that would be $20 million for your university (UT) and $20 million for Virginia (Tech). That would be a pretty big financial day for them.”

UT has long resisted moving a home game to Bristol. However, that was when the speedway had offered UT approximately $3.5 million in 1999 to play a regular-season game on the infield of the .533-mile, high-banked oval track.

Among the 114 - yes, 114 - members of the Harris Poll voting panel (which is replacing the AP poll in the BCS) is none other than everybody”s favorite hated former LSU Football Coach Gerry DiNardo:

Harris Poll Names Panel.

So does Gerry still have that restaurant off Highland Road? I guess we”ll see how much he really does love LSU.

I saw this today on American Morning and had to share (thanks, EyeTV!).

The setup: Miles O”Brien is talking to some official from Crawford, Texas about the mess caused by protesters around President Bush”s ranch; why they”re relocating that crazy woman who”s son was killed in Iraq and all that. The official is talking about traffic problems and the like when he notices an issue with CNN”s production truck.

CNN threatened with tow

I”ve been talking in the real world about how I hate having high expectations for LSU Football. Pre-season rankings as high as No. 6, consensus to win the SEC West, FoxSports talking about us in the Rose Bowl and all that.

If I”ve learned anything about LSU sports, it”s that high expectations usually mean a letdown. Our greatest moments - the 2003 National Championship, Dale Brown”s Final Fours, even many of our baseball titles - tend to come when we”re projected to be good, but not great.

So maybe it”s a good thing that Alley Broussard is gone for the season with a knee injury.

At least that”s what I”m telling myself.

No doubt, losing Alley is a big deal. That boy is a hoss and, yes, he”s kicking ass for me on the PS2. But we are deep at running back, with Justin Vincent - who, if you don”t remember, was the MVP of the BCS Title game and SEC Championship game a couple of years ago, Shyrone Carey and Joseph Addai all back this year as well.

And you never know when a freshman like R.J. Jackson or Antonio Robinson might step up early.

So maybe we”ll smash down those expecations a bit now. And maybe that”ll be a good thing.