FOUR Sightings

All at once...At Chef Geoff's (again) Thursday nite. Claire Shipman, with her husband, Jay Carney, and another couple.

Refusing to eavesdrop, I did hear them discuss: what Judith Miller would say to the Grand Jury now that she is out of jail...her career in the crapper because of her pimping the weapons of mass destruction line for the White House...was this why she was going through all this?...Scooter Libby will be fingered...and how old were you when you first put product in your hair?
But more: In walks David Gregory...

...all dapper and suited at about 10:30, just off of work. He sat down in the corner with his wife(?) with the good bread and a pint of beer.
And then, Chef Geoff's wife and Georgetown alum, Nora O'Donnell enters and says hello to everyone...

Holy crap! That's FOUR NATIONAL CELEBS IN ONE NIGHT.
To be fair, everyone seemed nice. I tried to persuade Mrs. ETJB to speak with David Gregory, but she "didn't feel it." Maybe next time.
Dinner was good. The ETJB had the pork shank and arugula salad off the new Fall menu. Mrs. ETJB had the butternut squash bisque and the chopped salad. All quite tasty.

Man-o-shevitz

Sorry.

Seattle was great and a good meeting.
I got back all right. Then, this week has sucked for all the loose ends.
Friday, tomorrow.

The good news is that there is good music:
a kid at the AU ups store hooked me up Tuesday nite.

And you can listen to the new album for free at rightousbabe.com.

And he plays the fiddle and he's a whistler. Check it out. He's from Chicago.

And he'll be at the Black Cat in November.

Ok, then. More tomorrow.

Northwest

I'm headed to Seattle later today, so you may not hear from me until next week. Send any Seattle are tips my way. Thanks

Man child

I think Bullmoose is now proven correct.
Man child.

It was inappropriate behavior that one would expect from an adolescent and not the adult leader of the free world. It largely went unnoticed.

Maybe people will notice now? I gotta peee-peeeee.

Vodka tip

So, the whole Watergate complex is one of those quirky Washington things, I know. But they got this one young Polish guy down there at their liquor store that procures some good hard to get Vodkas. I think he brings them back from the old country in a duffel. I've gone all over downtown looking for other labels: Barmy, La Salle, Bell's (excellent wine). All good, but predictable. This guy has some random, good stash. I went for the Pravda: the Polish Truth, comrade. Real smooth. I'll go back later for the cheaper Russian models, but I was suckered by his sales talk.
Anyways, after a few minutes of conversation, he's like, "well since you're here, why don't you try this," like those old dudes in the back room at Schnieders (maybe the best store in town?). So 2 mini shots of something he's got chilled with my empty stomach, while my partner Gwadzilla is nearby scoring a Roast Beast sandwich.
Nice day for a little walk. All this at 12:15 p.m. on a Tuesday.
Pretty good, huh?

Google. Failure.

So, a regular reader from Nashville says it's funny to google the word "failure." Go ahead. Try it yourself.

Cronyism

Much has been made of how Mike Brown got his job. He was a donor, a fundraiser, a friend of a friend.
But how did Bush get his job? True, he may have gotten more votes than the other guys. But he is only where he is because of his daddy and his daddy's money and his daddy's contacts. Right?
The fish rots from the head.

Sighting: Chris Wallace

Last nite (9/11/05) around 7, on Macomb and Wisconsin, possibly headed to 2 Amy's, possibly with his daughter.
I wanted to ask him a series of questions, primarily about that 1980's era white collar shirt he wore on the show Sunday morning, but Mrs. ETJB held me back.
Maybe he is sucking up to Brit "yellow ties are coming back" Hume?

Walmart: C-ing Their A

Much has been made by pro-corporation types who cite Walmart's donations to the relief efforts.

I also think that Walmart should be commended.

But why is the corporate brass making their contributions so visible? Could it be that they are afraid they may have blood on their hands?

The newspaper's [New Orleans Times-Picayune] Web site also reported that looters who ransacked a local Wal-Mart had cleaned out the store's gun department.

Look, no one ever accused Walmart of being stupid; it's that they are GREEDY at the expense of local communities.

Freudian Caption?

I'm not saying we are at a tipping point here, but I just got this pic from an old colleague who leans right, although she's not really political. Her caption was,
"Goes without saying...."
I hope what John says is true: The only people supporting him are the FOX News/Pat Robertson borg.
But, I say, these people are smart; they will find a way to twist this....

Sighting: Webb Hubbell

Labor Day (9/5/05) at Chef Geoff's on New Mexico, Webb Hubbell of early Clinton "scandal" fame eating lunch with two others. I recognized him by, well, his mandible.

Mike Brown, please meet Americans.

At this point, we had to turn off the TV:

The second part of my answer, Jim, which, I think, again, the American people understand how fascinating and unusual this is -- is that we're seeing people that we didn't know exist that suddenly are showing up on bridges or showing up on overpasses or parts of the interstate that aren't inundated, and that now we're trying to get to them by Coast Guard helicopter to at least get them some immediate relief so we can start airlifting them out.

So they either pay taxes or you send them a check, how do you not know "these people"?